Spectrum and Temp

[harmanrk]

Hi,

Another question about power compacts.

I have noticed that that some power compact bulbs offer a 50/50 arrangement, with half of the bulb producing light a 10000*k, and the other half at 6500*k, or half at 460nm, and half at 420nm.

Is it beneficial to spread the light output across multiple spectrum's, or is it better to provide more focused lighting with more intensity?

In other words, is it better to have 48 Watts in each (10000K, 6500K, 460nm, and 420nm), or 96 Watts of 10000K and 96 Watts of 460nm?

Robert

[dakar]

First Welcome Aboard!

Tthough the actinics serve to benefits our captive critters, the color ranges are geared towards pleasing our eyes, the 460nm will appear more blue, the 420nm will be more towards the indigo/purple end. Those wavelengths alter the way the the flourescing pigments appear, reflecting back the vibrant colors. The differences can be pretty dramatic between them. Particularly with power compacts the actinics are benificial to reach the shorter wavelengths where 1/2 of the photosyntesis takes place, flourescent daylights tend to be more towards the reds. So the combination works out nicely.

As for daylights, 10000K vs 6500K, the 6500K will have a more of a yelllowish hue to them than the 10K's, but not all bulbs are created equal for any color range. Though power compacts tend to shift spectrum pretty rapidly with age.

Most manufactures publish a graph depicting the average output of each bulb type to give you a better idea of the spectrums the bulbs should perform best at.

The combo bulbs I think you mentioned the 96w quad PC's do a nice job with the 50/50 particularly with shallower tanks, they should give you nice crisp lighting, combined with a good reflector they will be able to reach even deeper into the tank.

Hope this is of some help.

[davejnz]

I think they make a 96w PC thats a 3' bulb too.I've never really liked the 50/50 bulbs much.I used to use the 3' PC's,i always liked the 10k bulbs and the act03(420nm) although Coralife makes an actinic that really flouresces well.Its more of a blue bulb(450ish).Those 3' PC's housed in a parabolic refector from AHsupply.com are really bright.I wouldn't run a PC without them
BTW,dont forget to add some fans to the canopy/fixture otherwise you'll be lucky to get 6 months from your bulbs.

[harmanrk]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thanks for the information. I think I'll stick to the single spectrum/wavelentgh bulbs for now.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#As for fans, the unit I am looking at has three built in, an it will not be mounted under a canopy (My wife hates the look of them).#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Robert#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#