Thanks for the tip - I got three of them and put one of them in yesterday. My 10Ks that I am replacing are from e-bay and about 9 months old, and both my wife and I noticed that the 8K bulb was quite noticeably brighter. I'm not sure if it's cause its a newer bulb, or better bulb. 9 months at 8 hours a day seems like the 10Ks shouldn't have decreased in intensity at that age/usage.
Under the new lamp, I also noticed my R. Wallichi
seemed (how's that for scientific) to almost instantly "double" its pearling. I also like how it pulls out more reds. There is an appeasing "pop" my telenthera is putting out (visually) that I hadn't noticed before. Which is weird, because from 3-feet away, I can't really tell any "color" difference in the light itself. Looks pure-white to me.
Tonight I'll put another one on the LHS of the tank over the Macrandra and see what happens.
I sent the guy at fishedit an e-mail to see if he had any spectral plots to see exactly what we have here, but so far, I LIKE IT!
Thanks!
- Jeff
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashappar
fishneedit has incredibly cheap 8K 150W HQIs
they look better than the yellowish 6700K (any brand)
I have no idea about PAR values, but side by side with other brands in the same type of fixture they seem just as bright.
I've been using a fishneedit 8K continuously now for about 7 months and its still doing fine.
I'm sure intensity will creep down but I havent noticed it, plants havent either. color temp is still consistent with the startup.
my 150W HQIs are over relatively shallow tanks (17")
I think the coralife 10K HQI bulbs have a nice crisp whiteness to them.
I prefer them over the fishneedit 10K but not by much.
all the the 8K and 6700K bulbs I've tried skew the colors too unnaturally for me.
8K = too green, but better looking than 6700K
6700K = too yellow
10K = nice crisp white.
I tried a month each on 8K / 6700K / 10K -- and did not notice a difference in growth.
even trying fancy brand bulbs vs cheapies. I didnt see growth differences.
A month is long enough test for me, since its the average length of a grow cycle.
so the test strategy was - change bulb, replant, wait a month, repeat.
I say it boils down to aesthetics, what temp looks best for your eyes and the plant selection.
|