# Lights - K temperature, Lumens Wattage etc etc



## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

As a owner of a aquarium, what would I want in my lighting. To name a few :
1. Bright light to show the color of my fish
2. Should not reflect off water surface or dust
3. Should not produce much heat
4. Should not cause distress to the fish

But with so many terminology like K temperature, Lumens, wattage etc I get totally confused. Can someone explain how it will affect the lighting ?
Also, does higher wattage mean more light ?
I know that as we move upwards from 10000K, the lights get bluish, then howcome some products say Marine *white* 14000K ?


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Fishy_Cichlid said:


> As a owner of a aquarium, what would I want in my lighting. To name a few :
> 1. Bright light to show the color of my fish
> 2. Should not reflect off water surface or dust
> 3. Should not produce much heat
> ...


I think 14000k would look white to my eyes. Some people may be different but when I look at my t5's with just using the 10000k without the actinic's it looks more yellow but with the actinics it looks more white. So I could see how they could call 14000k white. What kind of lights are you looking at?


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## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

I wish I didnt have to know these terms but then !!!!!!

Look, what I want is nice bright light, so that the true colors pop up and also I want less reflection from the water & dust and also  that the light should reach the bottom of my aquarium and also  it should not get hot and also :lol: it should be something really spectacular and also  should be cheap and also :zz: any viewer should be dazzled by the light display.

Hahaha, I know I am asking for too much. But if wishes were horses, thats what I would want. And yes, not to forget, I actually have very little money in my pocket. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I have seen some tanks in this forum and the colors really pop out, absolutely stunning. Now, if I say that to any of my light shop owners, they will give me a 40W, 3500K, 2000 Lumen, 60CRI tube. That would really make me very upset. So, I am being forced to understand these terms.

Basically, I would want to know -
(1) If I just put on a 14000K light, what will be the color of my sandy tank ?
(2) If I just put on a actinic light, what will be the color of my sandy tank ?
(3) and what would I get, if I put on both the above ?

BTW I have left my lights to providence. My LFS fella is getting me one Philips Aquacoral Super Actinic tube (4') and one 3' Sunsun 14000K light.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Actinics give off blue light. Making the fish colours pop is going to depend on the colours of the fish. My Kasakalawe Tropheus look great under 10,000k/colourmax lighting. My Lufubu and Linangu do not. Lighting is hit and miss, and unless you have money to experiment with it, it will most likely be miss.


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## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

Thanks Noddy. *But would really appreciate if I saw some tank pictures with say one, just actinics, one with just 10000K or 14000K and one with both. If we had these 3 pictures of the same tank one below the other, we can judge whats better.*

So far as the prices are concerned, well, I cant afford a MH. These lights are going into my new tank which I am building and like all hobbyists, I too want to decorate it around a bit. Maybe it will the last though :wink: :wink: If any of these lights go bad, rest assured forum members, my tank will be either totally dark (actually the inmates which are going to be Fronts/Gibbs will love it) or it will be a cheap INR40 (around $0.8 ) xxxx fluroscent tube. Infact, last evening I had to replace my kitchen tube and got this 40W, 6500K T8 for the value mentioned above and I liked the light.

But, this CRI stuff baffles me. If CRI is high, its good. But how can CRI be increased ?
Also, whats the color difference between "true actinic" (which I know is 420nm) and the blue color of say a 20000K light ? These questions keep puzzling me.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

*Fishy_Cichlid*
Kelvin rating is what some human being thought the color looked like. You may agree, or disagree...

Wattage is power consumption.

Actinic means it has a spike in the blue wavelength of the bulb but tells you nothing else including the color it will make your tank. E.g. I use actinic white bulbs on my reef tank.

Cri is how well it renders colors, so a high cri tells you how realistic the fish colors will be. It doesnt mean that your fish will look how you want, since many of us like to enhance certain colors.

Imho, the best way to pick a bulb for looks is to ask the lfs to plug some in for you... :lol:


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## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

> E.g. I use actinic white bulbs on my reef tank


But I always thought Actinic light was BLUE and not WHITE



> Cri is how well it renders colors, so a high cri tells you how realistic the fish colors will be. It doesnt mean that your fish will look how you want, since many of us like to enhance certain colors


 Is this a little contradictory. I mean, CRI will make the colors appears closer to what it actually is and that is what we want. Though some people may want to pass off something not so nice as very beautiful. Just like the film actresses in my country who look quite different in actual life without any make-up   Maybe, we wouldnt even look at them twice, even if they sat next to us on an flight. :dancing: :dancing:



> Imho, the best way to pick a bulb for looks is to ask the lfs to plug some in for you...


 Now, that would would probably be the last mistake I ever made :x :x If that LFS owner had his way, he would install some 40W CFLs and tell me that they are better than MHs. I am making the tank though him/LFS, also - made all my equipment purchases from him. He will be giving me the final bill once the tank is installed with all the equipment in my house. This fella, I thinks, is gonna give me a BIG shock. So, my next post in CF will probably be from the jail being charged with manslaughter =D> =D> =D> or from the hospital bed after a heart attack :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

:lol: *Fishy_Cichlid*
We will keep fingers crossed that the lfs guy forgets to bill you for some of their steller equipment!

Actinic means, as you mention earlier, that it has a spike in the blue wavelength around 420nm. It doesnt say anything about the rest of the colors that the bulb produces and very bright lighting at other wavelengths can overwhelm the blue spike. My actinic white bulb looks very bright white... Not very blue at all. Usually... When a bulb says actinic as the only word then that bulb is a very blue bulb. I say usually as i have seen one bulb that wasnt.


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## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

Number6, do you mean to say that ther are 2 types of Actinics ? Actinic white & Actinic Blue ? And that Actinic white is Actinic blue 'spike' with some other color of the spectrum and Actnic blue is a Actinic blue 'spike' with only blue color :roll: :roll:

The LFS fella told me that he has got a Philips Aquacoral Super Actinic. Now is that white or blue ? When i mention colors, as a layman, i mean the color i will get to see inside the tank. Thanks.


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## 60gallon (Dec 14, 2010)

Fishy_Cichlid said:


> Thanks Noddy. *But would really appreciate if I saw some tank pictures with say one, just actinics, one with just 10000K or 14000K and one with both. If we had these 3 pictures of the same tank one below the other, we can judge whats better.*


T5HO - 2x: 10K & 2x: Power-glo









If nobody posts any more pictures and you want to see what a 10K / actinic looks like on the same tank give me until this weekend and I'll swap my power-glos out w/ my actinics. I dont really like the actinic bulbs. They make the blues in my peacocks really pop but the other colors arent vibrate at all like they are with the power-glo bulbs. The 10K / power-glo combo gives them a natural looking color not an exaggerated look like it does with actinic bulbs.

Everyones opinion will be different when it comes to what bulb(s) to choose and tanks will look different with the same bulbs so I suggest you spend a little money and buy several different bulbs to test out in *your *tank. *** bought 6 different bulbs to test out before finding the right combo in my tank.


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## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

Thanks so much 60gallons. You got a great looking tank. I would have rated your tank as just good but with the lights you have there, its superb.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Lighting in a nut shell:

Lumens = How bright the light is to the human eye.

CRI (Color Rendition Index) how well the light reflects colors as compared to natural sunlight (=100). A high CRI bulb will be as close to natural sunlight as possible. A blue lamp makes blue colors stand out really well. However it does not show red and yellow colors very well so it has a low CRI. A high CRI lamp has a good output across the entire visual spectrum. However these may not be the brightest lamps available and many do not do blue colors very well.

Kelvin (Coordinated Color Temperature or CCT) rating = The color of the light as plotted on a color scale called a Planckian locus (google it for more information). A higher Kelvin number means a cooler light that goes towards blue.

Actinic = A lamp or phosphor with a peak at 420 nm (blue-violet). Many "actinic" lamps are actually Royal Blue lamps (peaks at 450-470 nm). You can tell a true actinic by looking at it. If you see little squiggles in your vision it's an actinic. This is caused by the eye trying to "see" the light in the Ultraviolet range which is outside normal human vision. True actinics do not look as bright or as blue as a Royal Blue but do bring out fluorescence in fish and corals and are excellent for photosynthesis.

When comparing the same size and shape lamp more wattage = more light. However when you start comparing different lamp diameters and shapes it no longer holds true. A 28 watt NO T5 lamp is considerably brighter than a 40 watt T12 lamp even though it is less wattage. A 54 watt HO T5 (same size and shape as the 28 watt NO T5) is considerably brighter than the 28 watt.

Generally the best CRI will be in lamps from 5000-6700K and these will often get you the highest lumen rating too. 10K and cooler lamps will show off blue colors and irridescence better but you lose the warmth of the reds and yellows which start to look more violet or purple.

Andy


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

60gallon said:


> Fishy_Cichlid said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks Noddy. *But would really appreciate if I saw some tank pictures with say one, just actinics, one with just 10000K or 14000K and one with both. If we had these 3 pictures of the same tank one below the other, we can judge whats better.*
> ...


This is what I have and like it.

*Fishy_Cichlid*
It is VERY hard to tell what pics of peoples tanks rally look like in person versus when looking on the internet. There are so many variables including the camera, user of the camera, the way your computer processes the image, etc...especially taking into consideration the way the camera interprets the light and the way the computer processes that interpretation. The best way is to try at your LFS the bulbs you think would look best. If you want white go with 10000k and actinic combo. If you have 4 bulbs do 2 of each. This is a good white IMHO.

Personally...I am happy with 2 10000k and 2 blue actinics. This gives a very bright white light. I also use a t5HO quad unit. It was cheap and came with bulbs. I paid under a hundred for it and that included freight and bulbs. I have had it for 4 months or so and it works great. It is a 48" quad(4 bulbs). I found mine on ebay.

I have had many different lights in the past and especially metal halides for my large reef tanks. Metal halide gives off the best looking light IMO however they are very expensive, get hot and use a lot of power.

I hope this helps.


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## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

Thanks Narwhal72, the information was very helpful in understanding from a laymans point of view.



> Generally the best CRI will be in lamps from 5000-6700K and these will often get you the highest lumen rating too





> You can tell a true actinic by looking at it. If you see little squiggles in your vision it's an actinic. This is caused by the eye trying to "see" the light in the Ultraviolet range which is outside normal human vision. True actinics do not look as bright or as blue as a Royal Blue but do bring out fluorescence in fish and corals and are excellent for photosynthesis


 Very informative indeed.

13razorbackfan, I think the blue light of the spectrum is the one which reaches more depth in a tank. Yes, taking into consideration all these factors and also that, some of these factors work against the other (high CRI, low K temp), a combination of lights is the best choice, I too feel.

However, *one of my question remains unanswered*. What is the difference in lighting effect on a tank with a Actinic Blue and a 20000+K Blue ?


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Fishy_Cichlid said:


> Thanks Narwhal72, the information was very helpful in understanding from a laymans point of view.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have had 20000k bulbs on metal halide systems. The light is more blue than with the actinic/10000k combo...however some 20000k are more blue than others.

Out of curiosity do you already have a fixture in mind? t5, t8, MH, CF? I guess what I am asking is are you trying to buy a single bulb instead of having to match the actinic with another bulb?


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## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

Getting and choosing the equipment is a problem for me and I have to depend on my LFS in my city which isnt a very big place. My LFS gets his stuff from the wholesellers of a big city 180Kms away. So I actually dont have much of a choice since I am in service and cannot take leave from office and spend the whole day looking for my stuff. I give him the specs of what I want and he tries to get it from the wholesellers/exporters, if available. Very often, I have to wait for weeks at a end so that I get my stuff. The problem in my country is that though there are many hobbyists there arent any local manufacturers of aquarium equipments. Everything is imported.

Today, my LFS fella has gone to the big city to collect my lights, Philips Aquacoral Super Actinic which I think is mfgd in Holland (T5 - 4feet) and a Sunsun 14000K 3feet tube, which is of China make. I had opted out of MHs because of the costs involved and also beacuse of the high heat it produces. This has been a very good learning experience for me regarding aquarium lighting. However, so far as equipments goes, you guys in the US are very lucky. I will try and post the specs of my tubes once I collect my stuff in the evening. Have a good day. Thank you.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Let us know how it goes. Good luck :thumb:


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