RE: NANFA-- OT: full spectrum lighting

Crail, Todd (tcrail_at_northshores.com)
Tue, 24 Sep 2002 20:18:43 -0400

Jay,

Since I've left the land where fish tank lightbulbs cost $80.... ;)

There's actually more phosphorus in those lamps, which burns at a higher kelvin temp, which results in that more whitish-blue brite looking light. The GE Chroma and GE Daylight Ultra are both lamps that have this. I've used both, and have been pleased with the lamp color and the plant growth along with it. However, I will warn that the lamps that have adjusted spectrum, shift very very very sour once the phosphorus is gone. Read: Film algae will have a hay day.

A typical time frame to switch out lamps to avoid this is 6-7 months. Even if the algae gets bad tho, you can always leave the lights off for 3 or 4 days, do some water changes, put in new lamps and no biggie. If you don't believe me that the phosphorus burns up, put a 6 month old lamp next to a brand new one and you tell me which one looks white and which one looks yellow :)

Now there are some lamp manufacturers that do color the glass (Actinic lamps having blue tinted glass for example) to save cost on the elements they need to put in the lamp to burn... But with these two lamps mentioned, it is not the case.

Todd
-----Original Message-----
From: Jay DeLong
Sent: Tue 9/24/2002 5:37 PM
To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
Cc:
Subject: NANFA-- OT: full spectrum lighting


I see there are some household light manufacturers (not aquarium lighting)
claiming they have full spectrum bulbs, and they say the way they achieve
that is by absorbing yellow wavelengths. Is that just a trick to our eyes
(i.e., aesthetics; my suspicion) or is there something to that claim (e.g.,
would they be beneficial to house plant growth)?

--

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