Ok.. so I know poop about lighting....

[alianated]

Question...
I have a 4 x 55watt pc set up.
Two of my lights are actinics.
At the pet store they have two actinic PC bulbs as well. But theirs are soooo dark. They are almost like a black light. It looks cool as all hell and the aneomones GLOW under them. The tank is practically dark with just the anemones glowing.
My actinics are light blue. Things glow under them but barely, and the tank is pretty much lit up when they are on.
My question is.. if I walked into the pet store and said I wanted to add that dark blue PC strip or bulbs to my set up.. what is it that details that degree of darkness?
Is it the 'K' factor?? Or is it something else you use to describe that??
Ian

 

[tnreef]

Alienated,
The Kelvin Temp is the color of the bulb. The higher Temp the more blue. These bulbs you are refering to are more than likely a NO or VHO '03'
The color of the PC actinics are not true for the most part. I have heard that Hamilton has come up with a true Actinic PC bulb you may want to check out.
HTH Darryl

 

[alianated]

Ok.. now this is where I feel REALLY silly for asking.. but...
If I have a normal flourescent fixture.. that will run the NO bulbs right?? Or is that bulb/tube for a different fixture???
What about VHO?? Is that an entirely different fixture or is it just a different bulb?

 

[tnreef]

From what you originaly stated you have Powwer Compact flourecents. NO = normal output flourecents HO = High output VHO = Very High Output flourecents.
With your power compacts you can buy higher K rating bulbs for your setup but they will never be as blue as VHO, HO or NO. I recommend PC for smaller for the lumen output. The colors can be good but a normal flourecent tube has better color.
Again if you look into the newer Hamilton Bulbs they claim to have very good color.
If your system is manufactured by CSL your bulbs are more than likely 2 x "Actinic" & 2x 6700 K daylight.
I found the "Actinic" bulbs were more like a paint job than an actual color.
The 6700 K are very yellow.
mixed they look alright but I would try keeping the Actinics supplied and get 2 more bulbs of say around 8800 K .
This should give you a nice blue hue but still allow some full spectrum lighting for your livestock...
IMO HTH Darryl

 

[alianated]

TN thank you for your reply, and Im sorry if I didn't make myself clear... I do have a pc setup.. but what I was saying is that I also have a flourescent fixture that Im not using. (It held the Coral Sun tube before I could afford the PC fixture)
What I was wondering in my second reply is how that would work in relation to VHO and NO.
Do VHO tubes require a VHO fixutre? Or can they work in a normal flourescent fixture?
That was what I was wondering.. once again, thanks for your patience.

 

[pat]

although not an expert, this is what i have experienced. i have PCs now to start, before that i had a normal...from home depot kinda shop flourescent fixture. but what i noticed is that it runs fine with 2 daylight spectrum bulbs......runs fine with one acintic (coral sun) and one daylight, but if i put 2 acintics, it flashes BAD. even though the wattage on the acintics are equal to what the fixture recomends (40w) si i think....not sure, but think that the acintics take a little more power than the ballast can supply and those are just NO bulbs. so if that IS the case, then i thing that a different ballast would be needed for HO/VHO bulbs. I'm interested to see what everyone else has to say though.

 

[alianated]

So I could buy an NO actinic no.3 tube and stick it in my same flourescent fixture that I had my coral reef tube in right?
:::Thinks he just MIGHT be starting to understand now:::

 

[dmh]

As I understand it, you are correct. I am doing something very similar to what you have on my 55. I'm putting in a 96 10K daylight power compact, a 96 Actinic power compact, and the using the stock hood for a couple of NO dark blue actinic (for effect mainly).
One thing this allows you to do is turn on your NOs fora few minutes before you turn on your PC so you don't blind your critters. I have also been told that you can use the dark blue by themselves for a short time, but extended exposure to blacklight (or near blacklight) is harmful, so don't leave them on alone for too long. It does look kewl though!