I plan on looking more on the internet at some point tonight, but does anyone know what the main advantages or disadvantages would be between using an 18k Kelvin bulb as opposed to a 10k Kelvin bulb? I would assume that it is just a different spectrum of light, and if my memory serves me correctly, the higher kelvin has more orange/red color in it?
The Fish Bowl in Dover has 2 18k Kelvin bulbs that I could use in my new light, just curious if it would be worth using, or if I should stick with the 10k Kelvin bulbs that came with the light (They were broken so I need to buy 2 new ones).
LOWER kelvin is more red/yellow. higher is more blue. blue penetrates deeper and is better aesthetically. white is better for growth. (simple explanation) not a huge difference between the two really.
BJ,
That sounds opposite what the back of the GLO boxes said that I was looking at up at the store. Looked like the 18k had more orange than the 6.7k, but the 18k had more blue than the 6.7k.
Still not sure if I should just stick with the 10k, I think you all had some 10k’s on order that will be in on Thursday.
[font=Verdana]kelvin: (the abbreviation is K; the term degrees is not used and the word ‘kelvin’ is always in lowercase unless beginning a sentence) is a colour-index that is derived by comparing the light emitted from a standard, hot, black body (a Carbon instrument). Kelvin is also a unit of temperature. As the black body is heated it glows and emits light. The amount of light produced at each wavelength by an object depends on the temperature of the object producing the light so that solid objects at 1,000 kelvin (1,000 K) appear red but are putting out far more (invisible) infrared light. At 3,000 K a black body emits a very orange-red light, similar to the colour of a standard household tungsten filament bulb. The photosphere of the Sun radiates light at 5778 K which we call the visible, white light. At 9,000 K a black body emits a spectrum that appears very blue-white light. Interestingly, stars have their spectra measured in kelvin, too. Stars hotter than the sun (over 6,000 K) put out most of their light in the blue and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. Stars cooler than the Sun (below 5.000 K) put out most of their light in the red and infrared regions of the spectrum. The colour spectrum refers to the content of the emitted light across all the visible light wavelengths. Many light sources are full spectrum but the amount of light at each wave length varies according to type.
That explains it like you did originally, so maybe i just misinterpretted the boxes. Hard to say, I am fighting a little bit of a cold, so my head is just a little cloudy… kinda like my tank is right now…
No I don’t think the tank is still cycling, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are zero, just have a lot of diatoms still and the sand I have is so light that any little bit of movement and it gets kicked up.
Been trying to keep the two pieces of live rock that I have cleaned up too so that the coralline doesn’t get shaded from the light, so that is keeping things stirred up too.
The other thing is that my chaeto grass in the sump seems to get pretty covered with diatoms, so I had been shaking it out to keep it clean, not sure if I need to do that or not, but didn’t seem good to me that it was all staying down in the sump, where there isn’t anything to eat it.
[quote=“ihuntinde, post:8, topic:1671”]
Been trying to keep the two pieces of live rock that I have cleaned up too so that the coralline doesn’t get shaded from the light, so that is keeping things stirred up too.[/quote]
Coraline - contrary to popular belief - is not light dependent and in fact will bleach out under too bright of a light. But still keep the rock blown off.
[quote=“ihuntinde, post:8, topic:1671”]
The other thing is that my chaeto grass in the sump seems to get pretty covered with diatoms, so I had been shaking it out to keep it clean, not sure if I need to do that or not, but didn’t seem good to me that it was all staying down in the sump, where there isn’t anything to eat it.[/quote]
Yes keep shaking the cheato out - anything building up on the macro algae will cause it to starve and die off - which will release any previously removed nutrients right back in to the water column.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:9, topic:1671”]
Coraline - contrary to popular belief - is not light dependent and in fact will bleach out under too bright of a light.[/quote]
Actually…lol, from my understanding coraline (like all algaes) IS dependent on light, coraline just doesn’t need as MUCH of it as most algaes, and as Craig said too much will bleach it out (or allow another type of coraline or other algae to take over its place)
