Compact Fluorescent Light: Longevity and Wavelength

[Kampi]

How often should I replace my Compact Fluorescent lights?
Also, what about 420 or 460 nm and/or 6,700K and 10,000K lights. Do plants care?

A reference to an online article would be useful.

Thanks

 

[dutchy]

T5's should be replaced every three years. T8's every year.

Plants don't care that much about spectrum, but beware of pure actinic bulbs as used in reef tanks. The spectrum of these bulbs is too narrow.

Even if there's a small difference, you'll never notice if your plants grow .5 inch more over a month because of spectrum.

regards,
dutchy

 

[fjf888]

There was an article in TFH a few months ago, where the author liked using actinic lights in deeper planted tanks (which was considered 24 in). The logic was that blue light penetrated better and was good for plants and especially low foreground plants. The argument was also whats good for coral would also be good for plants. So I guess my question is what's the real deal with actinic lighting.

Thanks

 

[Kampi]

Sorry, I'm confused - are my CF units with the square pin design the same as T5's or T8's?

T5's should be replaced every three years. T8's every year.

 

[Kampi]

My aquarium is 30 inches tall (30T x 24D x 48W) w/o substrate and 24 inches from water surface to the top of the substrate surface. I know that the 420/460 lights are problematic by themselves and I do have some 10,000K light as well. Wondering it there is an ideal.

Is the TFH article available online?

There was an article in TFH a few months ago, where the author liked using actinic lights in deeper planted tanks (which was considered 24 in). The logic was that blue light penetrated better and was good for plants and especially low foreground plants. The argument was also whats good for coral would also be good for plants. So I guess my question is what's the real deal with actinic lighting.

Thanks

 

[eleontie]

No they are not.
Compact Flourescent are different than T5 and T8 ( these have connections at both ends of the bulb , the CF only at one end). But the replacement recommendations should be similar to T5s. For good plant growth I noticed that the CF light quality degrades greatly in the first 4-5 months (seen in aquarium plant growth and just an observation not a scientific fact), but after that the quality does not decrease much over time.

Here are some more details : http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/25638-t5-t5ho-vs-compact-fluorescent-power.html

Eugen
http://www.aquaticinspiration.info