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Fluorescent Tubes Specs
I went down to the local fish shop with the intention of purchasing a 40
watt Triton bulb. As is usual, the package was lacking any of the
specifications we aquaria types need to compare bulbs. The package did however
get my attention when I saw the price of $46 OUCH! Before I paid that much for
a bulb, I wanted to get some more 'usable' information. After a relatively
unsuccessful web search, I made some calls. I noticed the G.E. logo on the
bulb so I called their 800 lighting number. G.E. said they've had inquiries on
the Triton before, but that they don't make it and know nothing about it.
Apparently G.E. in England purchased Thorn (the actual manufacturer) and
G.E./USA has no connection. So I called Aquarium Products who sells it in the
U.S. Finally I got connected with someone who had the tech data. The 40 watt
Triton specs out as 5700 Kelvin, 91 CRI, and 2000 lumens - I expected a higher
output than this so I asked again, still 2000. The "tech" person couldn't tell
me if this was initial or average lumens. Either way, I can't see how they can
advertise the Triton as "TWICE AS BRIGHT" unless the data they gave me is
incorrect, any thoughts? I also asked about the "Blue Moon" and "Beauty Light"
for which they told me they had no data.
While I was at it, I made more calls to get data on some other well known
bulbs (40 watts, I assume the smaller bulbs are proportionally similar), and
again I assume the following is initial lumens:
Kelvin Temp Lumens CRI
Aquarium Products
Triton T12 5700 2000? 91
Blue Moon No Data
Beauty Light No Data
Coralife/Energy Savers
(without internal reflector)
Trichromatic T12 6500 3125 92
50/50 T12 7000 2600 92
Duro-Test
Vita-Lite T12 5500 2180 91
Vita-Lite
Power-Twist T12 5500 2340 91
Vita-Lite Plus T10 5500 2750 91
Vita-Lite Plus
Power-Twist T10 5500 2900 91
Aurora V T10 5000 3450 85
Phillips Ultralume T12 5000 3280 85
GE F40SXL/SPX50 T12 5000 3350 82
Of course this is only a few of many, please correct or add any data.
Mark.