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Dutch aquarium lighting


I did a quick survey of the nbat Dutch web site to gather some technical
data. I am curious about what techniques they use, and if, and how, they
differ from "our" current lore. I had the impression, when first browsing 
thru the tank descriptions, that there was a high incidence of very low 
color temperature bulbs, at least according to "our" standards. The data 
below confirm this. Note that apart from the "daylight" and Aquarele, there 
is no reference to anything as "blue" as 5,000 Kelvin. Use of incandescent-like 
color temps (around 3,000 K) seems to be the norm instead. There is also
no references to anything different from standard fluorescents, such as MH, 
PC or halogen (or I just couldn't find them...)

The Watts/gal values seem rather low but are consistent with the distribution 
posted by Erik Olson at the krib site, albeit at the lower end of the
envelope. These are in general quite large tanks.

The table includes all planted tanks listed at the 1999 competition pages, 
and also the planted tanks listed at the archive page under "Vivarium in
beeld". I didn't include a couple tanks for which I couldn't make sense of 
the light bulb designations (such as 77). I also didn't include a couple 
tanks with incomplete data.

-Ivo Busko
 Baltimore, MD



Volume  Watts/gal  Depth     Quantity of bulbs and color type
 (gal)             (cm)

 100      2.87      50       5 X 29, 830, 840
 112      2.57      50       3 X 830, 1 X 840, 1 X 89 (?)
  92      2.50      45       2 X Warm white, 1 X Grolux, 1 X daylight
 110      2.28      50       82, 830
 106      2.18      47       1 X 92 (?), 1 X 930, 1 X 940, 1 X 840
 152      1.90      60       2 X 830, 2 X 840, 1 X Aquarele
 198      1.75      48       6 X 92 (?)
 172      1.67      50       8 X 830
 132      1.62      55       2 X 92 (?), 2 X 940
  90      1.60      50       1 X 89 (?), 1 X 82, 1 x 830, 1 X 840
 283      1.52      55       12 X 830, 840
 124      1.45      60       4 X 830, 1 X 840
 276      1.42      55       89 (?), 930, 940
  86      1.26      50       2 x Warm white, 1 X Aquarele
 146      1.23      50       3 x 830, 1 X 827, 1 X 89 (?)


Color designations:

29  -  2,900 Kelvin, CRI 70 (halophosphor)
82  -  Perhaps a shorthand for 827 ?
827 -  2,750 Kelvin, CRI > 80 
830 -  3,000 Kelvin, CRI > 80
840 -  4,000 Kelvin, CRI > 80
92  -  Perhaps a 2,750 Kelvin, CRI > 90 ? 
930 -  3,000 Kelvin, CRI > 90
940 -  4,000 Kelvin, CRI > 90 

The (?) means no correspondence exists within the Philips European catalog.

I couldn't figure out what the "89" type means, but there is a reference
to a "Aqua Star" brand/type associated with that number.