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Re: Light bulb advice/"photos using trichromatic tubes"
Erik wrote:
Hi George! Be aware that the ZooMeds (and I beleive the Luxline) are all
T-8's so you'll be forced to toss your old ballasts and finally join the
ELITE group of 20th century hobbyists. I heard there's some new nifty
technology called compact fluorescents that might be coming out soon too.
:)
I reply:
Double beware if you buy the wrong ballast for the T8 lamps. I don't see the
point in it if you don't get a hight light output ballast.
George could switch to Aquarelles without changing his ballasts. They are
actually bluer than Tritons. The downside though is that I do not think they
will work with a HF ballast designed to run 32 watt lamps. This is contrary
to what I had thought before and contrary (I think) to what at least one
Philips rep. has stated. Aquarelles can be mixed with other lamps so that
you can get whatever blueness you want but they are not HF lamps. The
Aquarelle is a type of lamp that is standard in Europe but that particular
lamp is the same as a 4' F40 T8. It is very confusing. The proper electronic
ballast would be one that which is designed for running F40 lamps.
Erik wrote:
To add a little confusion to the debate, 750's (along with
virtually all other lights made today) ARE "tri-chromatic".
So now I've moved to SPX50's, which have CRI of 86 and cost $3 each...
I reply:
Have you noticed any change in plant growth as a result of switching lamps?
Some 750 lamps appear to be less "tri-chromatic" than 850 lamps. (I really
hate that word. I think it is not very discriptive of what I am talking
about but the only other word I can think of is "spiky".) I would be also
very interested if you were to try some Philips 950 lamps mixed in with the
850s and if you thought there was any improvement in plant growth with them.
I only started using them because of the super high CRI and the fact that
Frode Ro uses them but was very suprised by an improved plant growth.
Does anyone out there think that the concentrated spikes in an 800 series
spectrum is in any way less desirable for plant growth than the less spiky
spectrum found in 950 lamps or even for that matter in cool white lamps.
Wayne Jones
My DIY planted aquarium homepage:
http://www.mnsi.net/~waj/