Lights question

MiJoe

Whats the difference between a power-glo and a sun-glo 15 watt light?Besides the tint in the light when turned on in the tank.

okiemavis

There's a lot of different types of both of those bulbs, but I believe the main difference is the spectrum. I *think* that power-glo is intended for marine aquariums, which would make the frequency too high for most freshwater ones. You'll want a bulb rated between 5,500k-10,000k, 6,700k is best for your average freshwater plant.

tophat665

Power Glo has a higher color temperature (5400K), Sun Glo (4200K) puts out more actual light (Higher lumens - not sure what it would be at 15 watts, but it looked to be 20% higher than the Power Glo at 40 watts). Go with Life Glo if you have a choice - 6700K and an internal reflector that intensifies the light to over 3x that of Power Glo.

(Figures courtesy of Hagen via Mark Shelton on the Krib list in 1997. Soo of course it's changed since then )

The tint in the light is the color temperature. Very roughly speaking, higher temperatures are better for plants, not so good for algae. (Has to do with available wavelengths)