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Replacement Bulbs

666 views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  flutterbug 
#1 ·
It is time for me to change my bulbs in my 48" Odyssea T5HO. I am trying to keep my tank balanced without CO2, but I do dose Excel. Can someone recommend some good replacement bulbs? I was going to get 6500K, then I noticed a thread someone posted two pics and one used another bulb and it looked so much prettier. Thanks for your time.
 
#2 ·
Have you tried contacting the poster of the thread to see what they use? I've always found K rating preference to be mostly individual. At times I've liked a mixture of 6500K-ish and 10,000K. Sometimes I think all 10,000K looks better. There are also lots of "color" bulbs out there marketed to bring out fish color better. Then there's the issue of making sure you hit the right spectrum for the plants, although it seems most plant-specific bulbs do ok in that regard.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the help. She said what it was in the thread. I am going to have to search for it again. Do you think one 6500K and one 10000K would be good? Or I was looking at one 6500K and one that says it is red and blue spectrum for plants, but it is 5000K. I also was interested in that one because it says it's good for shy fish like Dwarf Cichlids and Discus which I have. Although I just got the Discus and it is in quarantine.
 
#5 ·
6500K can be a bit too yellow for some.
10K too blue.
6500K + 10K seems like a good mix between the two.

I don't believe lighting color within reason makes much of a difference to fish. Discus are found in blackwater which cuts lighting levels down a bit but its still sunlight. In fact, most discus really aren't all that shy once they get established. Take a look at Youtube, there are many videos of discus in brightly lite tanks and they are pretty much unaffected by the brightness.
 
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