Lights from the hardware store

CCarlson8 · 05/31/2006, 08:41 PM

Ok, this may be a stupid question but I was in my local HD and I found 150-500 watt halogen flood lights for pretty cheap. Would it be possible/ok to use these type lights? What is the difference between these halogen flood lights and MH lighting? I am looking to light a refugium in my stand or even upgrade the 384 watts PC lights that I have on the main tank now and use both the halogens and the PC bulbs.

Any help is really appreciated. Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question but i figured I would ask because those lights are really inexpensive for the wattage they put out!!!

jrsoprano · 05/31/2006, 08:56 PM

They are in the wrong light spectrum.

CCarlson8 · 05/31/2006, 09:02 PM

Is it possible to get bulbs in the right light spectrum? Do you know what wavelegth they are?

Also does anyone know how the K value corresponds to the lumen value?

goda · 06/01/2006, 12:16 AM

it dosnt at all

and yeah you cant use those bulbs and generaly even if you foind the riht color it wouldent last long

Danfish · 06/01/2006, 12:31 AM

K value is basicly color.
Lumen is intensity.

You could have a very blue very weak light, or a very red very powerfull light.

Most of the things in our tanks need light close to sunlight, which is pretty blue compared to what we normaly see. Incandescent lights (normal light bulbs) are around 3500k which is basicly orange. Normal "cool white" florescent bulbs are around 4100k, which is a sick green color. Direct sunlight is around 5200k which is white with a hint of blue. Since sea water filters out most wave lengths of light down to blue last, most marine animals have adapted to utilise the blue light the most, so by giving them more blue light we can "feed" them more light for less wattage.
Hence why aquatium lights tend to be more blue than 5200k.

Now acintic lights are bordering the edge of human sight so they cause things to floresce, I think its caused by a harmonic between light wave lengths, it was explained to me once but was over my head. Thats why we like acintics, they make the colors pop, but are generaly a little too far up on the spectrum, so you mix them with daylight bulbs.

Note that I'm coming at this from a film/photography prespective. I may have some stuff not explained right, I'm used to dealing with 3600-5200k. Only now learning the aquarium end of things.

Edit: the lights at the hardware store will normaly be around 3600k. Even the "blue coated" ones only get up to around the low 5000s kelvin.

Oh, and I think the reason they call it Kelvin is because that is the temprature in kelvin needed to heat a piece of iron to radiate that color of light. At 5200 kelvin a piece of iron will (if this is true) radiate white light, or be "White Hot".
This could be urban legend tho. Never quite sure how true this stuff is when you hear it.

Danfish · 06/01/2006, 12:56 AM

The thing about aquariums (from what I understand) is you need the right lumens of the right color temp (kelvin).

I supposed you could use "daylight" bulbs from the hardware store, but to get enough lumens of the blue light you would need to have a ton more wattage of them than a more correct color bulb. The animals would only be able to utilise a fraction of the avalible light from them, so you would need to overdose the lights in order to provide enough of the fraction they can use.

Now if you have the correct color bulbs, where the animals can utilise 100% of the avalible light, you don't have to use as much wattage to get the same usable light to the animals.

Wattage also isn't a constant between bulbs. 250 watts of CF is not the same as 250 watts of T5. If things were perfectly specific we'd commonly measure the lights in lumens instead of wattage, since lumens would properly take into account the difrence between bulb types.
I suppose we use wattage since that is the representation of how much power the bulb will pull. Its more nessicary to determine power consumption (lumens would have no representation of power usage).

Not sure why we don't commonly measure in lumens.

05/31/2006, 08:41 PM	#1
CCarlson8 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Orlando Posts: 75	Lights from the hardware store Ok, this may be a stupid question but I was in my local HD and I found 150-500 watt halogen flood lights for pretty cheap. Would it be possible/ok to use these type lights? What is the difference between these halogen flood lights and MH lighting? I am looking to light a refugium in my stand or even upgrade the 384 watts PC lights that I have on the main tank now and use both the halogens and the PC bulbs. Any help is really appreciated. Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question but i figured I would ask because those lights are really inexpensive for the wattage they put out!!!

05/31/2006, 08:56 PM	#2
jrsoprano Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Akron,ellet Posts: 37	They are in the wrong light spectrum.

05/31/2006, 09:02 PM	#3
CCarlson8 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Orlando Posts: 75	Is it possible to get bulbs in the right light spectrum? Do you know what wavelegth they are? Also does anyone know how the K value corresponds to the lumen value?

06/01/2006, 12:16 AM	#4
goda Moved On Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: fortlauderdale florida area Posts: 1,874	it dosnt at all and yeah you cant use those bulbs and generaly even if you foind the riht color it wouldent last long

06/01/2006, 12:31 AM	#5
Danfish Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Huntsville, AL Posts: 296	K value is basicly color. Lumen is intensity. You could have a very blue very weak light, or a very red very powerfull light. Most of the things in our tanks need light close to sunlight, which is pretty blue compared to what we normaly see. Incandescent lights (normal light bulbs) are around 3500k which is basicly orange. Normal "cool white" florescent bulbs are around 4100k, which is a sick green color. Direct sunlight is around 5200k which is white with a hint of blue. Since sea water filters out most wave lengths of light down to blue last, most marine animals have adapted to utilise the blue light the most, so by giving them more blue light we can "feed" them more light for less wattage. Hence why aquatium lights tend to be more blue than 5200k. Now acintic lights are bordering the edge of human sight so they cause things to floresce, I think its caused by a harmonic between light wave lengths, it was explained to me once but was over my head. Thats why we like acintics, they make the colors pop, but are generaly a little too far up on the spectrum, so you mix them with daylight bulbs. Note that I'm coming at this from a film/photography prespective. I may have some stuff not explained right, I'm used to dealing with 3600-5200k. Only now learning the aquarium end of things. Edit: the lights at the hardware store will normaly be around 3600k. Even the "blue coated" ones only get up to around the low 5000s kelvin. Oh, and I think the reason they call it Kelvin is because that is the temprature in kelvin needed to heat a piece of iron to radiate that color of light. At 5200 kelvin a piece of iron will (if this is true) radiate white light, or be "White Hot". This could be urban legend tho. Never quite sure how true this stuff is when you hear it.

06/01/2006, 12:56 AM	#6
Danfish Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Huntsville, AL Posts: 296	The thing about aquariums (from what I understand) is you need the right lumens of the right color temp (kelvin). I supposed you could use "daylight" bulbs from the hardware store, but to get enough lumens of the blue light you would need to have a ton more wattage of them than a more correct color bulb. The animals would only be able to utilise a fraction of the avalible light from them, so you would need to overdose the lights in order to provide enough of the fraction they can use. Now if you have the correct color bulbs, where the animals can utilise 100% of the avalible light, you don't have to use as much wattage to get the same usable light to the animals. Wattage also isn't a constant between bulbs. 250 watts of CF is not the same as 250 watts of T5. If things were perfectly specific we'd commonly measure the lights in lumens instead of wattage, since lumens would properly take into account the difrence between bulb types. I suppose we use wattage since that is the representation of how much power the bulb will pull. Its more nessicary to determine power consumption (lumens would have no representation of power usage). Not sure why we don't commonly measure in lumens.