# Best Bulb Opinions



## acrosstic

What are the best and how much? I want nicer bulbs on a budget. Been using the hardware store normal aquarium bulbs that suck but are $10 a piece.


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## SLIGHTLY STOOPID

The best bulbs are used in reef tanks. Get whatever bulbs you want but if you want to improve your setup go with T5.


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## RyanR

Super loaded question. :lol:

Bulb that recreates the natural lighting of the environment of which fish?

Bulb that makes fish look best to you?

Bulb that grows plants?

Then it's how "much" lighting... too much and the fish hide, too little you don't see the fish, and plants die. 

For most New World applications, a single flourescent at 5,000-10,000K works fine. I've found that I like the All Glass Aquariums brand T-8 bulb. For my "accidental" (rescued African cichlids) rift lake tank, I've got a 18" Corallife 50/50 bulbe on a 4 foot tank. For my plant experiment in the 40 gallon, I've got two hardware store variety "Daylight" T-12 bulbs cranking out 2 watts per gallon.

-Ryan


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## Dini

If your not growing plants or corals then you don't need much. There is a lot out there. What type of fixtures do you have now? what size is the tank? Lights are a lot like speakers...everyone has a personal preference and what one person may like...someone else may hate. On my non planted tanks 125 and a 130 I have two shop lights running and the lights are from Home Depot. On my 300 Planted...It is all AH Supply 96w CF lights. 

You can spend a pile if you want to...but you shouldn't have to....play with the bulbs til you find something you like. The best dosn't always mean the nicest..

GL with it

Cheers

Dini


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## kodyboy

I like the UVL actinic whites with internal reflectors. Come in T12 standard, VHO, T5 and PC configurations.


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## BillD

Before I consider a light, it needs to meet my criteria, which are, needs to be cheap, needs to produce a decent amount and quality of light, and needs to be cheap. I can't ever imagine spending the kind of money they charge for lights at the LFS. Lights that meet my cruteria are available at HD and other places for around $4.


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## kodyboy

$4 huh........not that easy. I would see if home depot (or where ever you go) have any bulbs that are 10K or so that should work.


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## RyanR

Even at the LFS, "official" aquarium 48" florescent bulbs are under $10.

Though at Lowe's I got a 2-pk of 48" T-12 Daylight bulbs for $8. Good for the "utility" tank. For the display tanks, a good aquarium bulb can help your fish "pop".

-Ryan


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## BillD

one thing I look for is a CRI as high as possible, to give more natural colour rendition. A 2 pack of T12 Philips Ultradaylight are $6 (just a little over $4 US) T8 twin pack is around $8. My preference is for Philips Natural Sunshine, 5000K which has around a 92 CRI. 10 packs are just over $30 for either of the 2. Pretty much any tube made for the aquarium is available from major manufacturers for less money. they aren't necessarily locally available which is the rub.


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## acrosstic

I have three fixtures.

One 48" Twin Bulb Shop Light - T12 Currently Running Two Phillips Plant and Aquarium bulbs (40W) from Home Depot. I find the color to be too yellow and it washes out the fish. Maybe too intense?

New tank came with two fixtures. Each 24" singles. They have Eclipse F18T8 Natural Daylight Bulbs. Hard to find, but online they are about $9. Seems like a nicer bulb, but I can't tell with it empty.

I've been thinking about two 50/50 T8 24" only carried by ZooMed for about $15.

I want the tank to look a little more saltwater, wihtout having to dish out the $ for T5 or some more expensive light.

I have a mixed African tank.

What do you guys think?


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## SLIGHTLY STOOPID

Just keep the phillips on one side of your twin and throw a corallife actinic on the other side. Actinic 420 will complement that bulb very well.

I used to run a Triton and Actinic on my Tang tanks. You can get it as T12 just about anywhere.

Don't get two 50/50. The beauty of twin tubes on a tank is mixing bulbs to get a good color.

http://www.oceanicsystems.com/products/lighting-replacement-bulbs/t-12-fluorescent/index.php

They have T8 also
http://www.oceanicsystems.com/products/lighting-replacement-bulbs/t-8-fluorescent/index.php


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## acrosstic

I wouldn't consider doing two 50/50 in my twin tube t12 shop light. That would be lame.

I was considering two 50/50 for the single tube T8 fixtures, because the fixtures are made to fit the glass tops on the new 120.

The Actinic bulb in the shop light is a good idea. Although that would mean the T8 24" fixtures that fit the glass tops would be cast aside.


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## RyanR

The thing about the 50/50 bulbs is that they're a compromise for single light fixtures. The actinic "part" of the bulb isn't as long lasting as the daylight "part".... so for double fixtures, it's better to get one daylight bulb and one actinic bulb.

-Ryan


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## SLIGHTLY STOOPID

A ok. It's either the shop light or the two 24" for the 120 which is 48" long?

Go with the two bulb option. There is nothing wrong with T12 as long you are only comparing T12 to T8.

It might seem like the look of the 50/50 is like combining a Phillips plant bulb with an actinic. It's not. The plant/actinic is much richer and more satisfying to look at. To me anyways.


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## acrosstic

Well, testing the point. I bought the actinic bulb tonight.

Before:









After:









So what do you think? Keep in mind this light will be transferred over to the 120 when I get it going.

The two 24" T8s were WEAK. Made my tank look so dark. Twin 48" much brighter.[/url]


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## acrosstic

My wife and I both agreed, the actinic bulb was a downgrade in the overall look.

If it makes any sense, it was tooooo blue. It didn't seem to bring out any colors, just reflect a blue light off of them.

Back to square one in lighting. It looked better in the pictures than it actually does.

I think I'll try to mimic the sun as best as possible or go with an ultra white highK.


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## acrosstic

I did some research on bulbs. I thought putting it all in one place might be beneficial to some making the same decisions as me. First, this is an excellent article about aquarium lighting.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

Spectrums (Which aren't everything)

Coralife 20,000K









Hagan PowerGlo T-10 (Not T12)









URI Aquasun 10,000K









Coralife 10,000K









GE AquaRays 10,000K









ZooMed 10,000K









GE 9325K









Coralife 6700K Nutrigrow









Coralife 6700K Colormax









ZooMed 6500K









ZooMed 5500K









ZooMed 5000K









GE 5000K


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## Morwell

I don't mean to hijack your thread but I've found this very useful to me since I cannot afford to spend a ton on lighting for my tank but I want to have decent success with my plants. I have a 4' 75 gallon tank that is decently planted.

From what I've read if I'm going to go with two 48'' T-8 strip lights it would be best to go with something near 6500K ranging between 400-700 nm. Just so long as the lumen per watt is pretty decent? In this regard it looks like something like the Coralife Nutrigrow would fit the bill pretty well.

Or would it be better to mix two bulbs?


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## acrosstic

*Morwell*

I think the Nutrigrow probably would do you well for a planted.

Plants need the green and red spectrums. Blue also helps them grow.

I'd probably try a Coralife Trichromatic or possibly a ZooMed Trichromatic (See 6500K above).

As far as spectrum goes, the Coralife Trichromatic has hi levels in the blue, green and red.

When I find the correct spectrum graph for it I will post.


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## acrosstic

Also, don't get anything with a built in reflector. Chances are your light fixture will do better or plain aluminum foil


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## Morwell

As far as lighting goes I seem to be able to find bulbs that seem decent at my local hardware store for a decent prices. The only issue is that they do not display the spectrum.

I bought two 48'' 32 watt bulbs. They both have 2700 lumens and are 6500K. Which as far as my understanding is pretty good for plants that require medium to low light. The only issue is that like I said they do not display the spectrum. Though in my tank they look much more 'yellow' than my previous lights.


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## TeteRouge

acrosstic said:


> *Morwell*
> 
> I think the Nutrigrow probably would do you well for a planted.
> 
> Plants need the green and red spectrums. Blue also helps them grow.
> 
> I'd probably try a Coralife Trichromatic or possibly a ZooMed Trichromatic (See 6500K above).
> 
> As far as spectrum goes, the Coralife Trichromatic has hi levels in the blue, green and red.
> 
> When I find the correct spectrum graph for it I will post.


So as well as being good for plants, these _visually_ have more red/yellow than the actinic combos? And can be used as possible alternative to SunPaq 10000/460 which IMHO is liveable, but a little too blue (visually) for freshwater?

Interesting subject, great research! :thumb:


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## acrosstic

The blue around 420 nm is vital for corals and inverts. That is why most salt reefs require high blue and recommend actinic bulbs or even more expensive types of bulbs that not only produce a spectrum high in blue, but also penetrate deep into the water.

The 20,000K bulbs are a waste, likely. Really, 10,000K would work just the same unless you have a tank deeper than 24" from my understanding. Read the article I posted above for more details.

However, blue also gives a nice look in freshwater, I have been told. I put an actinic in my strip light and it looked terrible. I think the blue of the actinic overpowered my generic Phillips plant and aquarium bulbs (that are also pretty old). Would it look as bad if I paired the actinic with a 10,000K or even 20,000K like many saltwater tanks do? I am not so sure.

I like the blueish, but I don't want my whole tank to look blue. It was such that it actually reflected blue light off the fish. Something wasn't right with the combo. I think the Actinic is designed to supplement the 10,000K and 20,000K bulbs, otherwise they might tend to overpower the entire setup. For example, if you have bulbs spiking at 50% relative in green and red and blue spiking actinic above 100% than you are likely to get a very unbalanced coloring.

However spike of 100% in blue and 75% in green and red might give you just a blueish hue without overpowing the other colors.

That is my current theory. I like the price point of the Trichromatic bulbs, it also spikes high in all three colors with a cooler K rating than the 10,000K and 20,000K. Which again are really only are higher for depth penetration. So if you can live with the k rating at the bottom of the tank not looking the same as the stuff at the top, it might just be an extra cost.

I like the idea of the Hagen Powerglo's spectrum, but I have a T12 light and they are T10. I've seen adapters. I also read somewhere the surprising range of color temps of a variety of Powerglo bulbs. I'm not sure we can trust Hagen's word for it on k rating or spectrum. Ironically, I also have a hard time believing my Hagen Aquaclear 70 is pumping 300 gph.

I think Hagen makes decent products, but I think they overstate for marketing purposes and there is no real regulation on that aspect unless one can prove it without a doubt.


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## acrosstic

[No message]


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## lou99

> My wife and I both agreed, the actinic bulb was a downgrade in the overall look.


Just use 50/50's thats all you need really.

I have a dual strip with 50's and cant complain. Looks stunning without blue overkill.


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## acrosstic

On petsmart.com, the powerglo bulb actually is marketed towards cichild tanks.

I just found out the Hagen's have moved to T8s. My shop light can accommodate both T12 and T8.

This makes my decision easier. I am going to go with two of these. Although I stated before, I am not sure one can trust Hagen, I do like the 18000K rating and the wide range of color spectrum.

I've heard they can do wonders for plants, but also help algaes go nuts.

Here is where I did a lot of my research on your standard Fluorescent bulbs. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=&aid=354


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## lou99

I found that using daylight bulbs give the water a yellowish tint.

50/50's give it just enough blue so that the water isnt green or yellow or orange.. just "clear"


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## acrosstic

lou99 said:


> My wife and I both agreed, the actinic bulb was a downgrade in the overall look.
> 
> 
> 
> Just use 50/50's thats all you need really.
> 
> I have a dual strip with 50's and cant complain. Looks stunning without blue overkill.
Click to expand...

I think I am going to go with the Powerglo, which already is high in the blue range without the need to supplement with an actinic or 50/50.

I am going to keep experimenting, and I always ask if I can return the bulb if I am unhappy.


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## Morwell

Don't want to sound dumb here but honestly I'm pretty new to the whole aquarium lighting topic. What exactly is a 50/50?


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## TeteRouge

acrosstic said:


> I think I am going to go with the Powerglo, which already is high in the blue range without the need to supplement with an actinic or 50/50.
> 
> I am going to keep experimenting, and I always ask if I can return the bulb if I am unhappy.


I have used a Powerglo (15w.) for several years on my 30 gal, I think they look great, water is clear, colors look rich :thumb: Think you'll like it. I just converted the 30g to a planted Tang tank, and had to upgrade my fixture. I got a very good deal (I hope) on a Satellite 65w. Now if I could just find a bulb with the Powerglo's color spectrum that fits it.....


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## acrosstic

Morwell said:


> Don't want to sound dumb here but honestly I'm pretty new to the whole aquarium lighting topic. What exactly is a 50/50?


It is half sunlight half actinic. The actinic portion burns out faster however. Actinic is the 420nm blue spectrum.

I've heard they are useful for applications where it is impossible to use two bulbs and/or you aren't able to use a bulb that is 18000K or 20000K


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## Morwell

> It is half sunlight half actinic. The actinic portion burns out faster however. Actinic is the 420nm blue spectrum.
> 
> I've heard they are useful for applications where it is impossible to use two bulbs and/or you aren't able to use a bulb that is 18000K or 20000K


Thanks for all the help with this acrosstic.

For the most part I understand pretty much everything that I've read my only question now is that I have two bulbs that are 6500k I couldn't find anything indicating the spectrum of light that they produce. I know that bulbs that are lower in K appear more red/yellow, which mine do- they're quite yellow. And that bulbs that are higher in K, 10,000 or even 20,000K appear much more blue. Now I would be correct to assume that since I see little to no blue light from my lights that if I were able to find information on the spectrum for them they would show that there is little to no blue light admitting from them? Likewise, the 10,000k or 20,000k actinic bulbs produce little to no red/yellow light so that's why they appear so blue?

Or am I wrong? From the spectrum information that you posted for the Coralife 20,000K it shows that the bulb is giving off blue, yellow, green, and red light in decent amounts. Though visually it'll appear quite blue since it is 20,000k.

Does the bulbs kelvin rating and the visible light we see have any relation to the spectrum of light that the bulbs give off? Or, are they completely arbitrary to one another?


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## acrosstic

> Or am I wrong? From the spectrum information that you posted for the Coralife 20,000K it shows that the bulb is giving off blue, yellow, green, and red light in decent amounts. Though visually it'll appear quite blue since it is 20,000k.
> 
> Does the bulbs kelvin rating and the visible light we see have any relation to the spectrum of light that the bulbs give off? Or, are they completely arbitrary to one another?


I wasn't real clear on this. The color spectrum is visible, but we see the combination of the colors emitted. If there are higher "relative strength" blue spectrum than anythig else, chances are there is some level of blue visible. Color temp is a measure of what we can see. Higher k ratings the more blue it is visually. It is possible for a light source to emit just as much blue as another and appear much less blue. The spectrum is a guide. The more balanced a spctrum the more each individual color will pop. However, a light blue gives a clear impression to us based on human perception. It is important to mimic the suns spectrum, but the k rating is less important and more has to do with visuals. The suns temp is between 5500 and 6700k dependin on time of day. It also appears yellow. Common wisdom says that a 6700k will be yellow, lower k ratings red (sunset colors) and higher k ratings blue. So for strictly visual aspects the k rating is king. However if you get a bulb that emits very few reds your red fish will not pop becAuse very little red light is being emitted by the bulb. So you want a wide spectrum (roygbiv) with a k rating that is pleasing to you as well. That is why the 18000k temp and the spectrum of the powerglo are apealling to me. Should be a deep rich blue but also be I[/quote] enough in other spectrums to make the other colors pop.i


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## Morwell

Thanks a lot for all the information- honestly making things a lot more easy for me to pick out the correct bulb.


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## sleepy09

I am not sure if anyone has given you this idea since I really hadn't read the whole thread but here goes.

I am using a shop light on my tank that uses T-8 bulbs. The light didn't come with the bulbs so I had to look around for the bulbs that I wanted to use. I got lucky, I found T-8 Sunshine bulbs that work great on my 125. 2 bulbs for 8 bucks and they look great on my tank. I bought them at Home Dumpster and I think that they had them for all size lights T-5 and T-8. The color temp is 5000k and the light output is 2800 lumens. They are suppose to last 20,000 hours. I am very happy with them.


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## dartman

I use a SmartLite, has two twin bulbs. Each has a white and blue half. I love it. Much brighter than the basic lights. I think the bulbs are about $25 apeice, and last about 2-3 years.


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## acrosstic

I want a near saltwater look without going too expensive. Seems those would be very red.


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## acrosstic

I like the powerglo's very much. Blueish, but not too artificially so. Brighter than the old T12s too.

Check out my tank for a recent picture.


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