[SNPiccolo5]

Hmmmm, not much better in my opinion than the 9325 K, though I'm pretty sure this is the next bulb I would try for my setup...

It seems whenever I look at the curve for a bulb and compare it to the one in the article given on this topic, that the red peak could be at a higher wavelength (I was surprised to see this on this bulb since it has a separate red tube), but if I see correctly, the blue is pretty good on this bulb...

Lots of green output though on this bulb, thats the problem. If the bulb is going to be white, you need only red, blue, and green light to make white, so that explains why green is a high peak in so many bulbs. What does everyone else think?

-Tim

 

[Anonymous]

You beat me to it. Nice green output to grow plants . . . hmmmmm . . . oh ya! nice green output to grow algae. I never understand why so called "plant" bulbs spike really high in the green spectrum.:fire:

 

[GulfCoastAquarian]

The green spectrum is just there for us to see the fish. Think of how dim your tank woudl look with only red and blue output (ever look at a reef with actinics and red moonlighting? the fish can sleep in that light.)
If they had little green output, their lumens rating would be nearly zero. Normal bulbs have a green spike easily twice as tall as their red and blue spikes (if they have a concentration in red or blue areas at all). A good balanced tri-phosphor bulb has always been the ideal choice for plants.

 

[m.lemay]

I think I like the 9325Ks better, they're a little higher in red and blue and little lower on the green output, hence the violet hue they produce.

Marcel

 

[GulfCoastAquarian]

I really wish I could get my hands on one of those 9325K's. I've got to see what they look like.

 

[m.lemay]

You can get them here.
55 watt 9325k bulb

 

[SNPiccolo5]

That's expensive! I guess it was a good deal to get them with my PC fixture that I have....

-Tim

 

[GulfCoastAquarian]

That's what I'm thinking. You can get the Plant Growth bulbs from Pet Supply Liquidators for $22. That's definitely going to be my next bulb.

 

[m.lemay]

Heres a picture comparing the 9325K GE bulb (Top) and the 6400K ahsupply bulb. Notice how much better the Ahsupply reflector reflects the light (bottom) . Also you can see the pinkish hue from the 9325k bulb. Its not quite as pronounced in the photo as it would be in person, but you get the idea.

 

[SNPiccolo5]

Wow! That is a BIG difference! The flat top reflector you can see the bulb, but with AHSupply's reflector, you can't even tell where the bulb is! I'll have to get some of those reflectors....

-Tim :fish:

 

[lanstar]

Originally posted by GulfCoastAquarian
I haven't ever seen any PUR specs on PC bulbs, other than the Sylvania 55w Dulux bulbs that are only available in Europe.

They're available in the US now.., at least in the 55W version. I just got some (Osram/Sylvania Dulux L 5400K 55W PC's - 2G11 style pins). The same ones that were listed in the table in Ivo Busco's article on Aqua Botanic... Total PUR 36.3 uE/s, PAR 72.2 uE/s.

The Duluxs replaced some 5300K's that I got from AHSupply. They're about $3 a bulb cheaper than the ones from AHSupply. I could tell within 30 minutes of swapping them out that they significantly increased the plants' pearling. Part of that may be that they are new bulbs, of course. The ones I replaced had about 3000 hours on them.

Take care...

Tim

 

[dlwarnock]

Tim'

I wish you had posted sooner. My 5300K bulbs arrived yesterday from AHsupply. You said the new ones looked better but how were the 5300Ks?

David

 

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Where'd you find the Dulux bulbs in the US, Tim? Share the wealth!

 

[lanstar]

Go here:

http://www.interlight.biz/images/webpages/fluorescentandcompactfluorescents.htm

They're a little more than 1/2 way down the page. The description says "12-950 DULUX L 5000-5400K 2G11".

As for not posting sooner... I just found this place after google searching for an hour on Monday evening. I ordered them on Tuesday and they got here Thursday. I posted Thursday night when I was sure they were the "real thing."

As for "looking better"... not really. The appearance to the eye is about the same as the AHSupply 5300's. However, the plants sure seemed to be pearling considerably more after putting the Duluxs in. Again, part of that could be because they were new bulbs and the ones I replaced had about 3000 hours on them.

When I spoke with the folks at Interlight, they said they had 12 in stock. I bought 8 for my fixture so they probably have 4 left. They said it took a week to 10 days to get more when they had to re-order from their wholesaler.

I've only run them for about 4 hours so far. I'll give you a better report after they've been on for a couple of full 12 hour photoperiods.

Sorry about not posting the link last night. It was late and my brain was in neutral.

 

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Excellent. That page has been officially bookmarked. It is definitely possible that the improvement you're seeing in plant growth is simply due to a new bulb with high initial lumens, but that particular bulb had one of the highest PUR/watt I've ever seen so I believe I'll be giving them a try when it comes time for bulb replacement.

 

[m.lemay]

Originally posted by GulfCoastAquarian
Excellent. That page has been officially bookmarked. It is definitely possible that the improvement you're seeing in plant growth is simply due to a new bulb with high initial lumens, but that particular bulb had one of the highest PUR/watt I've ever seen so I believe I'll be giving them a try when it comes time for bulb replacement.

Ditto for me. Those are the bulbs I wanted to get but nobody had them here. Some body better tel these guys to start carying more than twelve at a time. Word spreads fast around here.:hehe:

 

[SNPiccolo5]

Looks like I'll have to try those bulbs myself when I replace the bulbs. Exactly what I was looking for once this thread started up...

-Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Thats a negative of PC lighting (I assume that was the Dulux bulbs are) and T-8 in some areas. I had to order a case of T-8s from bulbs.com for 84.00 after shipping. Still cheap for 25 bulbs, but still expensive up front. As for the bulbs themselves (TL 850) they are 5000K 86CRI and burn blueish to white. I am 2X ODNOing them and my plants exploded with growth with 4 of them over my tank. I mean my crypts alone doubled in size and have already started shooting out tons of new plants.

 

[m.lemay]

Ok, heres a verdict on the difference between the plant growth bulbs from pet supply liquidators and the 9325k GE bulbs that came with my all-glass fixture. I bought 5 bulbs from Pet supply liquidators because they had a sale 5 for $60. I installed 4 of them over my tank, they seemed a little dim but I figured the PAR was supposedly high so left them for a week. Heres what happened, the tank stopped pearling completely but I figured I'll wait it out since I had just finished doing a major replanting. So, today I get home and figured, let me see what happens with 2 plant growth bulbs and the 9325K GE bulbs. Wow :shock: what a difference. Almost immediately the plants started to pearl and the tank just looks better. Not only that, but the 9325s are a year old! No matter what combination of bulbs I use, when they're combined with the 9325s the tank pearls, otherwise nothing happens.

In conclusion, the 9325ks are the best damn 55watt PC bulb for growing plants. I've mixed them with 6500 Ks from AH supply and again the difference is phenomenal. IMO the 9325s are head and shoulders above anything else I've tried so far. If anyone has a one of those Dulux bulbs and they'd like to trade for something, let me know, I'd like to give those a shot.

Marcel

 

[lanstar]

Hi folks,

I thought I'd post a followup on the DULUX L 55W PC bulbs I posted about back in February (2003). I was quite pleased with them all through the rest of the spring and summer. The plants grew like crazy. However, in the early fall (like about the 1st. part of August) I began to notice that the plants weren't pearling like before and that some of the low micro-swords were looking puny. The bulbs looked bright and I made sure to keep them clean, so I checked everything else under the sun... Nitrate, Fe, Phosphate, K, all that stuff was fine. I finally decided to order some replacement DULUX bulbs. They came in last week... That was it! The plants are back to pearling like crazy and the micro swords are coming out of it. So the moral of the story is that the DULUX bulbs work great... for about 6 months (@ 12 hours burn time a day). Then they need replaced although they still look to the naked eye to be burning brightly.

Next spring, I'm going to put in some of the GE's you guys seem to like and give them a try!

Take care all...

Tim