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[APD] Re: help with finding inexpensive metal halides?



Jennifer, try ebay - Lots of variety there and much cheaper in most cases.


I have 10k fluros at home and a 5.5k fluoro which is very orange in comparison. What is the difference between 10k and 20k light or even 20k and 5.5k.


I know the technical difference but I'm wondering what people feelings and preferences are? I want to grow fresh water plants.

=Nick



Jennifer Malmquist wrote:

I have a 120 gallon planted tank lit with two 250W metal halide pendants. One bulb died this weekend and the other is looking dim so I started looking into replacements, as my LFS doesn't carry the bulbs I need. When I saw that bulbs sold specifically for aquariums on the pet-supply websites go for about $100 each I tried to look around for alternative sources. After doing some research on the Krib I have found that I should probably find at minimum bulbs with a CRI >90 and a temp of 5000K (at minimum, higher is probably better.) It seems as though bulbs with a lesser CRI and temperature could be used (and would be just fine for the plants) but apparently would cause the tank and light in the room to be an unpleasant color. The tank acts as a room divider between my dining and living rooms, so it's important to me that the light quality be pleasant. The tank has very few animal residents (a few shrimp, one incredibly large SAE, one angel, a few otos, one pleco and finally about a dozen tetras) and plants are primarily swords, crypts, aponogentons, and anubias. No fast growing plants because I'm lazy and don't want to spend the time on the maintenance. :)

If anyone out there thinks that I'm incorrect (ie, a CRI of 60-70 on a 3500k bulb would be just fine - these bulbs were much less expensive) and/or can point me to a source I would be very grateful. Thank you!

Jen
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