Macro lighting tip

barjam · 07/02/2007, 02:17 PM

Synopsis:

If your macro isn't growing, try a different bulb.

Story:

Early on I used a plain LoA 75 watt equivalent 6500k over my cheato and I got pretty good growth. Then a few months back I switched over to a larger 130 watt equivalent 6500k from the same company. My growth stopped dead in it's tracks (in retrospect). For whatever reason I didn't associate bad growth with the new bulb, afterall the light from the new bulb was visibly brighter.

I decided over the weekend to order up some of the lights Melev recommends in hopes to get more (any?) growth out of my cheato... but before doing that I decided to throw a GE 6500k 75 watt equivalent bulb in just for kicks. This morning I awoke with explosive growth, just 8 hours after installing that bulb. I did not realize that cheato could grow visibly in eight hours... if I didn't see it myself I wouldn't have believed it.

My theory is due to the design of the 130 equivalent (much larger), it blocked itself more in the reflector (these are normal bulbs spirals in a heat lamp). If that isn't the case then the bulb was just bad (for this application) in some other way, who knows.

The point is that three new bulbs (two from the same company) all with roughly the same wattage and the same color temperature can produce different results. I don't think that the GE bulb was some miracle bulb or anything, just pointing out that folks should try different bulbs if their macro isn't growing.

I have two of the Melev bulbs ordered... considering the reviews and the design of that bulb (built in reflector) my cheato problems should be over.

07/02/2007, 02:17 PM	#1
barjam Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 1,695	Macro lighting tip Synopsis: If your macro isn't growing, try a different bulb. Story: Early on I used a plain LoA 75 watt equivalent 6500k over my cheato and I got pretty good growth. Then a few months back I switched over to a larger 130 watt equivalent 6500k from the same company. My growth stopped dead in it's tracks (in retrospect). For whatever reason I didn't associate bad growth with the new bulb, afterall the light from the new bulb was visibly brighter. I decided over the weekend to order up some of the lights Melev recommends in hopes to get more (any?) growth out of my cheato... but before doing that I decided to throw a GE 6500k 75 watt equivalent bulb in just for kicks. This morning I awoke with explosive growth, just 8 hours after installing that bulb. I did not realize that cheato could grow visibly in eight hours... if I didn't see it myself I wouldn't have believed it. My theory is due to the design of the 130 equivalent (much larger), it blocked itself more in the reflector (these are normal bulbs spirals in a heat lamp). If that isn't the case then the bulb was just bad (for this application) in some other way, who knows. The point is that three new bulbs (two from the same company) all with roughly the same wattage and the same color temperature can produce different results. I don't think that the GE bulb was some miracle bulb or anything, just pointing out that folks should try different bulbs if their macro isn't growing. I have two of the Melev bulbs ordered... considering the reviews and the design of that bulb (built in reflector) my cheato problems should be over.