Originally Posted by
JoJoGeno
K does not refer to light spectrum... it actually means Kelvin, another form of rating temperature almost like Celcius. The "sun" is rated in Kelvin and that is why the lights are rated this way. Before you blast someone and try to teach them what they need, why don't you go and learn yourself so you don't go and make things up. To the person who wants to anemone... get the lighting that you need and figure out what anemone is a good match for your type of clown. Most of these people in this forum THINK they know what they are talking about but they just do what someone else tells them to do. If you fail at keeping it alive, then you need more light.
OK, first of all I was describing it in simple terms as I don't want to confuse a novice with overly complicated terminology. Keeping things simple is the best way to get it right. As for not knowing the meaning of Kelvin and needing to "learn myself"...I already have. My masters in Physics from the University of Illinois is proof of that.
For your information, The Kelvin scale was started in the late 1800s, when the British physicist William Kelvin heated a block of carbon. It glowed in the heat, producing a range of different colors at different temperatures. The black cube first produced a dim red light, increasing to a brighter yellow as the temperature went up, and eventually produced a bright blue-white glow at the highest temperatures. In his honor, Color Temperatures are measured in degrees Kelvin, which are a variation on Centigrade degrees. Instead of starting at the temperature water freezes, the Kelvin scale starts at "absolute zero," which is -273 Centigrade. (Subtract 273 from a Kelvin temperature, and you get the equivalent in Centigrade.) However, the color temperatures attributed to different types of lights are correlated based on visible colors matching a standard black body, and are not the actual temperature at which a filament burns.
So, while Kelvin is indeed a measurment of temperature, in this hobby we use it to refer to the specific specturm band of light produced. For example, a 10,000K light will be very white while a 20,000K light will be very blue.
Furthermore, doing a trial of your system by getting an anemone and seeing if it dies is not only irresponsible but downright cruel!
Many of the specimens in fish stores are wild caught and never make it in tanks. There are only so many out there in the oceans and if everyone uses them as "guinea pigs" for the adequacy of their lighting system, there won't be many left in the wild for everyone to enjoy!
Take this as you will.
