Help on buying light bulbs.

katsafados

katsafados

Active Member
I need new lights for my current 2x40watt pc lighting.
The bulbs are 40watt double bulbs.
The stock bulbs are these:
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/edealinv/...950&scId=17950
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/edealinv/...950&scId=17950
I want the light to have buler colour(I believe it has soemthing to do with the wavelength of the bulb, and I dont mean actics when I say I want a bluer colour), but I dont know what bulbs to get, nor can I find them. Can someone help me out?
BTW I live in Canada so try to give me Canadian sites.
Thanks a bunch!
Thanks!
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
It's against the rules to post links to other sites.
One of those lamps is actinic, the other is a 10K/6.7K combo. If you want to go bluer, go higher on the kelvin sale. An all 10K lamp, or even a 12-14 would get much bluer.
 
katsafados

katsafados

Active Member
Yeah I know its aginst the rules to post links. But the way I see it, I liv ein Canada and the sites that I post links to are Canadian sites, which means Canadian shipping and pricing, so they arent really competetors of this site untill this site decideds to ship to Canada.
On that note. Do you think bulbs like that would exist for my needs? Also what if I go with a little higher or lower wattage in my bulbs. Will it cause my fixture to go up into flames?
 
katsafados

katsafados

Active Member
These are my lights.
The Current USA Dual Satellite Power Compact fixture is a dual strip light which contains 1 Dual Daylight Lamp (6700K & 10,000K), 1 Dual Actinic (420nm/460nm) and 1 Lunar Light. The Lunar Light is a small LED which sits in the fixture above the bulbs. The compact fluorescent bulbs included with this fixture have 3 times the output of standard bulbs with double the life (12 months). This fixture also features a cooling fan and 2 switches, and mounting legs
 
katsafados

katsafados

Active Member
Thats what my fixture takes...
If the wattage is higher the bulb will burn out or start a fire(I'm pretty sure), and if its lower wont I be getting less light output then before?
 
katsafados

katsafados

Active Member
Yup they do but not for 40watt. I looks on big als site and another I always buy off. I dont know any other sites.
Would this work?
40 watt SmartPaq 10,000k Daylight/460nm Actinic, square pin
40 watt Dual Actinic 420nm/460nm, square pin
So now I'll have 3 bulbs that are actinic and 1 thats white?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Katsafados
http:///forum/post/3135874
Wouldnt that be the same type of lightiong I have now then??
I want more blue when the daylights are on.
IDK...is that what you have now??? Do you leave all your lights on together alllll day? I keep my actinics on longer than my whites
IDK...If you get 3 blues.....will you have enough white then....I think that would be your next question...and not one for me
 
katsafados

katsafados

Active Member
I have my lights on the same schedual that you do.
actinics on at 7am
Daylight on at 1pm
Daylights off at 10 pm
actinics off at 12 am
Moon lights on at 12am - 7am
the bulbs I have in there now are:
40 watt Dual Actinic 420nm/460nm, square pin
and
40 watt Dual Daylight 6,700k/10,000k, square pin
Would this combo give me more blue rather than a white colour:
40 watt SmartPaq 10,000k Daylight/460nm Actinic, square pin
and
40 watt Dual Actinic 420nm/460nm, square pin
OR should I go with what meowzer said and get:
40 watt SmartPaq 10,000k Daylight/460nm Actinic, square pin
and
40 watt SmartPaq 10,000k Daylight/460nm Actinic, square pin
I dont want a complete blue, I want some white but more of a blue tint when the day and actinic lights are on. Also would those combo's be enough white light for the tank and corals to survive in?
Hope this makes things clearer.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Actinics don't put out much useful light. It's mostly invisible light that causes corals to fluoresce.
In the end, switching to more actinics will make your tank look bluer, but much darker.
Unfortunately it sounds like you bought one of those oddball fixtures sold by Big Als's, Aqua Traders, etc that take equally oddball lamps, so you may not have many choices.
You may consider going ahead and upgrading to an industry standard T5 system, rather than pouring more money into weird lamps that aren't exactly what you want.
The nice thing about the industry standard lamps is that everyone makes them, so you have more choices.
 
katsafados

katsafados

Active Member
Upgrading isnt an option at the moment. Right now I'm a broke college student haha.
So are you saying this wont work?
40 watt SmartPaq 10,000k Daylight/460nm Actinic, square pin
and
40 watt SmartPaq 10,000k Daylight/460nm Actinic, square pin
Is that too little white light?
 
bonerac

bonerac

Member
this is just a thought replace the lamps that you have with the same type and buy a seperate light strip for one lamp and put whatever color you wish to increase and if you dont like you can mix and match untill you get what you like. just a thought.
 
katsafados

katsafados

Active Member
Wouldnt work.
Not enought room over the top of the tank. The existing fixture takes up the whole top. Plus I wouldnt like the unsleak look of that.
Thanks for the imput, though!
 
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