Tube Changing

Ah-ha! I was in this time they called. (Actually, I was still in my pyjymas!  )

So this 'new' tube is a 'daylight' 6500Kelvin and replaces the AquaOne 'tropical' of 8000Kelvin.

My initial views (i.e. one cup of coffee's worth)  of the lamp is this......

1. Except for the word 'AquaOne' stamped on it - it's identical.
2. It costs £12 extra to have the word 'AquaOne' stamped on it and put in a nice (read environmentally catastrophic) bit of packaging instead of a recyclable cardboard box.
3. It's a warmer, softer light to look at.... a bit like the difference between a fluorescent tube and an ordinary filament bulb. The 'tropical' light was more blue and 'harsh' to my eyes.
4. The light that travels through the tank doesn't pick out as many colour differences. The plants look a more uniform shade of green, my male cherry barbs aren't quite as cherry red. However; the dark bands on my five-band barbs have more irridescence. The 8000K blurb does say: Enhances fish colours, and so perhaps it does.

I'm trying not to fall for the placebo effect of 'I've just spent money on this so it must be better' (my bike always goes better after I've cleaned it  ) so I'm going to spend a day or two living with it, then change back for a day or two.

Final verdict..... the jury's still out.


EDIT: Stan, if you decide to go for the 7.1k Kelvin I would be very interested to hear your views. It might just be the happy medium that's...er...well,... happy for me and the fish.

EDIT #2: I suppose, in all fairness, that some of the extra cost must be due to short production runs to make the bulbs specific to the aquarium trade. I know I shouldn't try and post anything even vaguely intellegent before at least three cups of coffee.

All this "daylight", "sunlight", "pro-glo", "gro-mix" whatever is just verbiage;  It doesn't really mean anything.  The important factor is the colour temperature.  6500K is the normally recommended value because it's the best widely available tube for growing plants. Your proposed 7100K tube is very close to this and is closest to 6500K of the Aqua replacements.