# Regular vs Aquarium bulbs



## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

So, last night I was sorry to see my 48" bulb on my Mbuna tank burn. So, searching for bulbs online this morning I decided to risk it and at last conduct the experiment I wanted to all these years. I bought regular household bulbs. A move that might save me a lot of money in the long run or mess up things in my tanks.

After searching for a long time I found that the cheapest aquarium 48" bulbs I could find around my area would cost me from 20 to 40 dollars per bulb. Then, I checked which bulb my (used already) tank came with and it is the All Glass fluorescent bulb T8 48" which actually costs 80+ dollars (???). It's an 8000k bulb with unknown CRI and lumens (if you can find it let me know).

While searching I got the idea of regular commercial bulbs and went to Canadian Tire and purchased 2 General electric household T8 bulbs for the price of $12 for both... 

They are 32W, 2600lumens, 6500k, 78CRI

How bad can it go? Any personal experiences? Advice? thanks


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

I used to get mine at Home Depot. They sell a bulb that simulates Full Sun or Sunshine or something like that. It's around 6500k and an CRI over 90 which is a lot better than 78. I think they cost 5 or 6 dollars each and sometimes they sell them in pairs. Go check them out and see for yourself.

Of course when they're this cheap you can afford to replace them ever 6 to 12 months as recommended for best light output.
--
Paul


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

If it is fish only you will not notice a difference. If it has plants, which I doubt being a Mbuna tank the plants would notice the difference and perhaps slow down their growth. I always use just the plain old common bulb and have had no issues. I even grow plants very well with them.


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

Thanks guys. My thoughts exactly. No plants in there so we are good. These from home depot sound even better. I will surely look for them next time


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## vrb th hrb (Feb 20, 2010)

canadian tire has similar bulbs as well


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

The Home Depot ones may be the Phillips brand. They also make the spiral ones in what they call Daylight, which is 6500 K for the spirals. I've bought 6700 K tubes there too, but last time I went they only had 6500 K tubes. I use them for a light garden that has ten tubes so it makes little difference, but over a tank with plants, the extra 200 K might well make a difference, though perhaps not a dramatic one.

You can save money by buying them in a box of, I forget how many to a box. Ten or twleve maybe ? But much cheaper that way than singly, and the savings make you feel better about replacing them more often for plants. Fish don't care nearly so much as plants do. You could probably use the standard 'cool white' bulbs for the fish only tank and save a LOT of money. Cool whites are the cheapest tubes, and cost very little indeed if you buy a box. But they're not of so much use for plants because they have to be within inches of a plant to be effective. They are what used to be used for light gardens before they started making the higher K tubes.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

For your Mbuna tank you might want to experiment from some where between 4500K to 6700K. Since you don't have any plants, then I think 4500k or 5000K will do more justice since it's more of the colour of the sun yellowish/white. 6700k tend to be overly blue making your tank look un-natural white/blue. This throws all the colours off in your tank (including the true colour of the fish).

And that's where the difference is with aquarium tank bulb (well the good ones anyway) and the commercial ones. Good bulbs, bring out the colours from your fish, while cheap ones make then look dull.

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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Zebrapl3co said:


> And that's where the difference is with aquarium tank bulb (well the good ones anyway) and the commercial ones. Good bulbs, bring out the colours from your fish, while cheap ones make then look dull.


This isn't completely true. The CRi will determine how well colours appear under the light. Commercial tubes are available in a wide range of colour temps (K ratings) and CRI. They are not readily available in regular retai establishments. I will agree that 6500K is already starting to look blueish, and prefer a 5000K tube with high CRI. Home Depot used to carry Philips Natural Sun which was a 5000K tube with high CRI. Now they have a 5000k that has a CRI of only 82. However, if you mix this with a Ultra Daylight, 6500K which does have a high CRI, you will have the best of both worlds. The low CRI 5000K grows plants very well, even after 3 years of daily use, and these tubes were used in an office for 6 months before I got them.
As well, tubes with good colour temps and high CRI have been around for a very long time, but weren't normally seen in common retail channels. They were out there and available from specialty/lighting stores.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

BillD said:


> This isn't completely true. The CRi will determine how well colours appear under the light. Commercial tubes are available in a wide range of colour temps (K ratings) and CRI. They are not readily available in regular retai establishments. I will agree that 6500K is already starting to look blueish, and prefer a 5000K tube with high CRI. ...


And have you notice that only Philips have a CRI rating? Most brands don't even bother to advertise it. Also, 85 also means that 15% of the colour is off.
Normally, you don't know this with the human eyes. But if you take a picture of your fish, the off colour tends to magnify (probably due to limitation of my cheap digital camera). And when you're doing your colour correction at photo editing, you're going to say "OMG, my tank's lighting really sucks".

BTW, I've been using the same phillips light bulb you're talking about for the last 5 years. The natural Sunshine (5000K) says it's CRI rating is 86 but the Daylight deluxe (6700K) says both have a CRI rating of 85.

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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Last time I looked, the T8 6500K Ultra Daylight had a higher CRI than the 5000K Natural Sun. The reverse was true in the T12, with the Natural Sun being much higher. The tubes I am using now, are Philips AltoVision, 5000K, CRI 82,which were given to me used. The Home Depot now carries these tubes in place of the Natural Sun. Philips does make tubes in 5000K that have CRIs in the 90s. I haven't seen them for sale, but they are out there.
I have seen CRI numbers on pretty much every brand out there. Sometimes it is on the tube, sometimes on the sleeve. One thing I did notice recently, is that the Philips T8 Cool White has a higher CRI than the 5000K AltoVision. One does have to llok closely at whatever info is available to you when looking for these products. The Philips catalog is very extensive, with all kinds of tubes listed that you might have trouble finding, although they have very desirable specs. There are in fact T8 HO tubes out there although i have never seen them.


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

First observation after some days of using them is that I started having green algae.

Your thoughts on what creature I could add to my yellow labs and demasoni?

On a separate note, one of my two demasonis is always on the surface or hiding behind the filter and heater. Any thoughts?


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

monk21 said:


> First observation after some days of using them is that I started having green algae.
> 
> Your thoughts on what creature I could add to my yellow labs and demasoni?
> 
> On a separate note, one of my two demasonis is always on the surface or hiding behind the filter and heater. Any thoughts?


I recommend a Bushy Nose Pleco to help with the green algae.

The Demasoni are probably sub dominant males trying to hide from the dominant male. How many do you have? I ask because if you don't have enough of them you'll eventually end up with only one after all the others are killed off.
--
Paul


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

Y2KGT said:


> I recommend a Bushy Nose Pleco to help with the green algae.
> 
> The Demasoni are probably sub dominant males trying to hide from the dominant male. How many do you have? I ask because if you don't have enough of them you'll eventually end up with only one after all the others are killed off.
> --
> Paul


I figured that this was the problem. My numbers are weird because I actually "inherited" the fish and then I ran out of money so I couldn't add proper numbers. I have 12 labs (3") and 2 of the same size demasonis


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

The more I learn the less I seem to know . 

But I actually did know that the higher K temp lights were around earlier than I made it sound. But I meant for the average consumer, who is most likely looking for lighting in places like Home Depot, rather than a specialty or commercial lighting store, they have not been around all that long, while cool whites have been around, it seems, forever. Of course they have not been around forever, but it kind of seems that way now.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

You are right of course about the availability of better quality lighting. Back in the day, (25 or so years ago)there was a tube in T12, 40W, with a twist in it called a Vibrliux Powertwist (or something like that), which was a full spectrum tube with high CRI for growing plants. Dentists also used them to help with colour matching. Problem was, they cost about $25. I was able to get Philips Ultralume 5000K, from a electrical supply store for $8, which had a lower CRI but at least 30% more light output for the same wattage. Those tubes grew plants like nothing I had used before. I attributed that to the higher total output as well as the colour spectrum. Those tubes were available through mail order although they cost more to order from the US than I paid in the local store. They were used in salt water among other things, so were seen in ads in FAMA magazine.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

It's always interesting when either another interest or even just happening to be in some type of industry leads you to sources that you'd never have found if you didn't have the interest or hobby, or that particular job. I recall when the first plant 'grow lights' started to appear. Compared to the cool whites I'd been using they were terribly expensive, so I didn't get any 'til years and years later when I got a few on sale. They were better than cool whites, but not enough better that I would have paid full price, not for what I was growing at the time. Mostly seedlings for the planters outside, at the time.

When I first discovered the 6500 K tubes, and I just don't remember when that was, the difference they made was astonishing, and I used them from then on. They'd grow my succulents beautifully. Cost more than cool whites, but not nearly so much as the 'grow' lights did.

Good you brought up CRI in a bit more detail. I'd heard the term before, and at one time I did know what it stood for, but I had to look it up again to remind myself, because the meaning had escaped my memory. I knew that light sources mattered for colour matching, because I've sewn most of my life and one thing you learn early is that the lovely yardage of whatever colour you got in the store that appeared to match something you had at home would frequently appear to be a very different colour in daylight, and yet another shade under home lighting. It used to be exceptionally frustrating sometimes, trying to find a colour match. I would take bolts of fabric outside, or to an exterior window if possible, to look at them in daylight. Most stores had only cool white lighting available, and at home, mostly incandescent, or a combination of incandescent with halogen later on. 

But CRI was not a factor I ever considered for bulb purchases up 'til now for growing plants, since I usually just look at the plants to see how they are doing and if they are doing well, then I'm happy with the lighting. So I didn't really understand what the CRI value on a bulb meant. 

Having now read some articles about CRI, I understand it better. I'll consider it for future bulb purchases. I dearly wish I'd understood it better long ago, I'd have looked for lighting to give me that needed colour reference for my fabrics, and also for other crafts involving colours. I now know, from the recent reading, you only get true comparisons of colour rendering from two or more light sources, if the sources you want to compare have the same K temperature. So you can't compare CRI values between, say, a 4100 K and a 6500 K. 

It's never a totally bad day if I manage to learn something new .


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I have been using some Phillips 6500 k bulbs over my 75 plant growing tank for a while, at first they seemed just fine but after just a couple months they don't seem to do the plants any good. I have been meaning to switch the bulbs with new aquarium bulbs I got and just haven't gotten around to it yet.

It is my opinion that the best thing for plants is aquarium bulbs. There might be some cheap bulbs out there that are just as good but I think its hit or miss with finding good ones.

If you don't have plants, definitely just buy the cheap bulbs


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I will have to disagree about the inadequacies of "cheap" tubes. The used Philips Alto Visions I am using have been growing plants for about 3 years now, 12 hours a day. They were used for 6 months in an office building where they had been automatically switched out as part of the regular building maintenance.
I am quite sure there has been some colour shift and even drop off in output. However, there is no noticeable drop in growth rate of the plants. I did expect a significant drop of so I will say I ma quite surprised at what is happening. I was quite prepared to change them out yearly, and use the tubes over tanks with no plants. This hasn't been necessary, yet. This is, of course, quite different from the commonly disseminated information on plants and light. i still find it surprising, that the tubes still light, and more so that the Vals and Amazon swords, and a few other plants are still growing under them.
As far as CRI goes, it may have little bearing on plants growth, but it does make a difference as to how plants will look under the light, although even the colour temp does that. Green plants don't look the same under 5000K and 6500K, regardless of CRI. I suspect that a tube with high CRI is more likely to have the correct wave length for good plant growth. The value of high CRI is more likely to be noticeable on the multi colours of fish.


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