Philips T5 Bulbs

[Spank]

Having found it very hard to source 80W JBL T5 bulbs within the UK, I finally opted for T5 bulbs made by non aquarist brands from here

I bought a variety of tubes ranging from cool white to daylight, at 3500K, 4000K and 6500K for a wide colour spectrum (I've heard lower K means more red light and higher is more blue light). Has anyone had any ex periance with the bulbs and will they be ok for aquarium use? or have I just wasted a tenner?

Thanks
Hank

 

[Themuleous]

I would have thought they'd be OK, as they are triphosphor, which means they produce spikes in the blue, red and green wavelengths and given that they are T5's they'll be nice and powerful so the plants should get a decent amount of light. In general plants can adapt to a wide range of light types given enough time.

Sam

 

[Addison]

No you haven't the lower temperature lamps will cause more plant and algae growth and the higher temperature lamps are better for avoiding algae growth. These lamps have a very high CRI 85% so will show the fish off nicely.

 

[Themuleous]

No you haven't the lower temperature lamps will cause more plant and algae growth and the higher temperature lamps are better for avoiding algae growth. These lamps have a very high CRI 85% so will show the fish off nicely.

Is that right? The higher the temp the bluer the light, thought thats why marine people use high temp tubes, because the coral algae need the blue light to grow?

Sam

 

[Spank]

No you haven't the lower temperature lamps will cause more plant and algae growth and the higher temperature lamps are better for avoiding algae growth. These lamps have a very high CRI 85% so will show the fish off nicely.

Is that right? The higher the temp the bluer the light, thought thats why marine people use high temp tubes, because the coral algae need the blue light to grow?

Sam

that's what I thought, bluer light encourages algae growth..... picking up tubes today so I'll just blast the tank full spectrum and see what happens in few weeks/months

 

[Themuleous]

Cool, let us know how you get on

Sam