Need New Bulbs

[rdd1952]

I woke up this morning to find 3 of the 4 bulbs on my 75 gallon tank burned out (how in the world do 3 go out at once?). These are the 6700K 65w bulbs that came with the Coralife setup I bought almost 3 years ago. What are my best options for replacing them? My tank is fairly heavily planted but with relatively easy plants such as amazon sword, anubias nana, java fern and hygrophilia. Fish are angels, tetras, corys, SAEs and a pleco. Also, if I order online and don't get them for 4 or 5 days, how much of an adverse effect will that have on my plants? I can buy them locally at a specialty fish store but everything they sell is generally double the price it can be bought online and I think I'm looking at about $25 a bulb online for the same bulbs I currently have.

 

[Themuleous]

Are they T8 or T5?

Sam

 

[rdd1952]

I'm pretty clueless on lights but I flipped them over and it says D08 on the other side of the tube. This is the type bulbs I have except 6700K instead of 10,000K.

Actually, when I got up this morning, one of the strips was working again so now I'm only down 2 bulbs but I'm sure that one isn't going to last long.

 

[Themuleous]

Oh right, that's a power compact T5 bulb. For a replacement, obviously get one with the same number of pins on the end (i.e. the things that supply the electricity). I hear these are excellent and give good colours to the tank

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=15381

Or the 6500k version of these

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=13736

The important thing to look out for when buying bulbs is that they are triphosphor, that means they have the right wavelengths. The KK rating is much less important but 6500k is considered a good type.

Sam

 

[rdd1952]

For color enhancement of the fish and alos to get the plants what they need, is there a better bulb than just the 6700K, 65W? What about the color lights such as these or these? I think actinic is mainly for marine tanks though aren't they.

 

[Themuleous]

Cant say Ive used the first ones you've linked to. The GE Super Daylight 9325k is probably the best for colour rendition. Check out

http/www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumap...difference.html

For a very good comparison.

Sam

 

[Lateral Line]

No and no. Stick with the straight lamps, forget the marketing bull. The regular lamps cover both the photosynthetic peaks and also give some light in the rest of the spectrum. The "coloured" units send light in either the PS areas but not elsewhere, (so appear dim), or are to high end, (so they do not cover the red PS peak).

 

[rdd1952]

Thanks for al the advice. I may look into the 9325s. That's a pretty stunning difference.