Which is more important..? For fresh water planted tanks watts is more important.. As for marine ? And are actinics 10000k ?
Watts vs Kelvins
- Thread starter Weylin
- Start date
If memory serves, actinics tend to be in the 5500K to 6500k range. Wattage is important when considering water depth penetration. Don't quote me on this, but the deeper the water, the more wattage you'll need to get a good dispersal to the bottom.
In either case wattage is not as important as range. But both are intrinsically tied together. I can have a PC that's 55 watt and keep high light requirement corals just as long as they are really close to the source. Now if I have a 240 MH, the range of penetration is much deeper, allowing us more forgiveness in placement.
To make a short story even longer, 10000k refers to the color range. 6500k appears to us as blue because that's the wavelength it moves at. Just as a 10000k shows up as white. If you google lights K range you'll see how it moves and how color ranges with temp.
Hope that helps and swim on!
In either case wattage is not as important as range. But both are intrinsically tied together. I can have a PC that's 55 watt and keep high light requirement corals just as long as they are really close to the source. Now if I have a 240 MH, the range of penetration is much deeper, allowing us more forgiveness in placement.
To make a short story even longer, 10000k refers to the color range. 6500k appears to us as blue because that's the wavelength it moves at. Just as a 10000k shows up as white. If you google lights K range you'll see how it moves and how color ranges with temp.
Hope that helps and swim on!
metalyx;2993046; said:
well u're kinda right
In saltwater, its the intensity that counts. For example a T5HO fixture that is 54W will be a lot brighter than a CF fixture of the same wattage.
6500k is yellow while 20000k is blue(actinic)
the smaller the number the more redish it is
the higher the number the more bluish it is
57 or 5800K is sunlight is im not mistaken
actinics aren't on the kelvin scale, usually anyways..
they'd be something like 25-30,000K if it's the same scale as in astronomy
they both are a factor, as are many other things, but out of the two (temp and wattage) i think temp is more important... you could have all the watts in the world, if the chloroplasts can't use it it's pointless
actinics aren't on the kelvin scale, usually anyways..
they'd be something like 25-30,000K if it's the same scale as in astronomy
they both are a factor, as are many other things, but out of the two (temp and wattage) i think temp is more important... you could have all the watts in the world, if the chloroplasts can't use it it's pointless
What would be ideal for soft corals in a 2x1x1 ? Im currently using 2x 36 watt PL-L(PC's) and thinking of getting an actinic.
The color will influence growth rate, and wattage and color are separate. The lumens of the bulb (light output) will be dependent on the wattage and color.
Light in the blue end of the spectrum (actinics) has high energy then light at the red end of the spectrum. So an actinic bulb at 110 watts will put out a dimmer (blue) light than say a 50/50 bulb which will put out a higher intensity white light (more fill in the red and yellow end). It takes more energy to produce a photon of blue light. MH lights put out high intensity broad spectrum light which is centered around a given color, CF and flourecents (sp) put out a narrower discrete spectrum.
If the tank it 1 ft deep I'd go with a pair of 50/50 (coral life) CF/PC blubs since the give you both the bright white light and the actinic spectrum to increse growth. I doubt you would need more for soft corals at the bottom, or some large polyp stony corals. I wouldn't put much more light into the tank as heat will start to become an issue.
Light in the blue end of the spectrum (actinics) has high energy then light at the red end of the spectrum. So an actinic bulb at 110 watts will put out a dimmer (blue) light than say a 50/50 bulb which will put out a higher intensity white light (more fill in the red and yellow end). It takes more energy to produce a photon of blue light. MH lights put out high intensity broad spectrum light which is centered around a given color, CF and flourecents (sp) put out a narrower discrete spectrum.
If the tank it 1 ft deep I'd go with a pair of 50/50 (coral life) CF/PC blubs since the give you both the bright white light and the actinic spectrum to increse growth. I doubt you would need more for soft corals at the bottom, or some large polyp stony corals. I wouldn't put much more light into the tank as heat will start to become an issue.
Weylin;2995637; said:
Would that make it 3 bulbs or were you just going to replace one with an actinic?
Cause if you were getting a third I would say do two actinic and one 10k (which I'm assuming both are now)
Either a 50/50 or one white one actinic would work, but it's been my experience that 50/50s are slightly more expensive for some reason...
This may not be the same by you
Forgot to mention those bulbs are 6500k, i can't find anything higer than that here.. So i thought of getting one T-5 Actinic.
Weylin;2995637; said:
36 wall bulbs are not standard for aquariums so finding high color temp bulbs is hard. These are general purpose commercial grade bulbs and you won't find much above 6,500k. If you want high temp bulbs you may need to get a new fixture.