Fuge with 3 bulbs and 3 different spectrums.

[pinkninja]

I have been running around mad lately trying out new bulbs. And for each bulb I bought a clamp and socket to run them. Now I have three bulbs with three different spectrums. I have a Phillips agro light which is about 37k, a 42 watt CE light which is about 27k and another CE bulb but 19 watts and 51k.

Based on the research on here it seems that the CE 51 k bulb is the best. My question is: when you start using different spectrums will they "blend?" For instance, if I used 1 51k bulb and it works very well; but by adding a 27k bulb will it diminish the benefits of the 51k bulb?

I hope my question makes sense.

Thanks, PN

 

[Samala]

By diminish.. do you mean that you think the bulbs will average themselves together.. ie. a 27k plus a 51k is about an average of 39k?

I dont think our lights work this way. There will be slightly more photosynthetically usable light out of your 51k bulb and it will look more towards natural daylight. The 27k will be markedly more yellow (and IMO 'yucky' shades of yellow at that) and will have less usable light for the plants. Both will work of course, but you will see slower growth most likely out of the 27k bulb in a controlled setting.

If you mix them, you're just going to have more overall usable light for the plants, so not a bad way to go. When you need to get new bulbs, I would get 51k's all around, but I wouldnt worry about it now. (Unless of course, down the road, you find you are not growing the macro fast enough to keep up with your nutrient load in the tank.. then it might be a consideration to increase your overall wattage.. as well as bring all your bulbs up into a more favorable color temperature.)

Oh yeah.. caveat.. higher color temperature does not always mean you will have more usable light for the plants, I imagine in your research you've seen a range of color temperature's being suggested as these tend to put out the light the plants use in the higher amounts.

>Sarah

 

[Samala]

Oh yes, Pink, I forgot to mention that I use GE normal fluorescent bulbs in my freshwater setups that are a very nice 6500K flavor.. much more blue and like daylight at high noon.. makes the greens really pop. They are sooo cheap at home depot, about $6 around here.. these are part of the ALTO (less mercury) collection and all the bulbs are marked with a "D".. such as F20T12/D/ALTO. Something to look for if you are still considering switching around the bulbs or just to keep in mind for the future. Especially nice if you might put the fuge on display as some reefers have been doing of late.

>Sarah