bulb color

[Corvette Reefer]

okay so in school im learning about stars and stuff, and they said that blue is the hottest starts and yellow is middle, and i applied that to my bulb knowledge and thought how come actinic being blue not the strongest bulb and like 10k be middle then red?

[tazzy695]

what do you mean starts never heard this used as a term in colors and what not ?????

[dejavu]

Your trying to compare two different things. Color of star has to do with heat not intensity. A blue flame is hotter the a yellow flame, but a blue bulb has less intnesity or PAR then a yellow bulb. Heat does not equal intensity.

[Sir Patrick]

I agree w/ the other rsponces- but can see clearly what got ya thinking. I probly would have wondered the same thing.

[Corvette Reefer]

yeah but thats heat and heat is a form of energy which is intensity so i dodnt see how blue can be that week.

[Corvette Reefer]

bumpo upity!!!!

[jimsflies]

The blue actinic simulates light that wavelengths after they have been "filtered" out by a column of water (e.g., the sea). I agree with Dejavu, they are separate and it is a coincidence they happen to both involve the color blue.

I guess you could look at it in terms that blue is a "stronger" wavelength (color) to penetrate the ocean deeper than the other colors....if you were trying to make some sort of a correlation.

Go Blue!

[Sir Patrick]

^ I see where you are getting at, and for the heck of it, will share my hypothesis on the subject.....Key word- my hypothesis....

Actinic lighting, in the reef, is not very high par rated, for the most part, compared to other k ratings of light.

As jim said- the actini lighting is supposed to simulates light that wavelengths after they have been "filtered" out by a column of water.

The deeper the water, the closer you get to actinic, right?

Sounds like the 20k (blue) light is the most intence, as it penetrates deepest into a water column, but is not in aquarium lighting, because-

In aquarium lighting, its not as intence, as it simulates light that wavelengths after they have been "filtered" out by a column of water!



Figured I would take a shot at it...am I close???

[Sir Patrick]

Makes sence in my head....although has no real scientific backing....gotta love a hypothesis! Looking forward to what others have to say.

[Corvette Reefer]

so does this mean with out water, actinic light is stornger than 10k but the water effects it.

[jimsflies]

I'd say not..."actinic" light is simulating the blue wave length of light which penetrates deeper than other colors in the ocean. 10k also contains blue and other wave lengths as well...but again is a simulation of sunlight...still falls short of the natural composition of sunlight.

[Corvette Reefer]

but!! there is a gas inside the bulbs which cause the color, which is the same gas thats in the sun causing the spectrum so it produces the same stuff.

[jimsflies]

maybe but I think the 10k will have more energy in and out of the tank because it has blue and other wavelengths with it.

Unfortunately I'm at the end of my hypothetical knowledge on the subject. I wished I knew a reefer physicists that we could ask.

[Corvette Reefer]

but a blue bulb has more blue spectrum in it soooo