Question (10000K/Deep Blue 03 Combo)

[Sulla]

Hello I am thinking about buying the used setup below for my DIY hood for my new 125 tank. What I was wondering about is this the bulbs that come with it are 96 watt compact fluorescent bulb (10000K/Deep Blue 03 Combo). I remember correctly those are normaly used on marine tanks not freshwater tanks. Will these lights look and work ok on my non planted freshwater tank? The lights cost about $32 each so it changes how much the package is worth if I have to buy new lights.


TWO 14 ounce solid-state electronic ballast (8.5"L x 1.7"W x 1"H); TWO 34.5"L x 4"W multi-angle MIRO 4 polished aluminum reflector; TWO moisture-resistant endcap with cord; FOUR steel bulb holders; TWO grounding power cord; wirenuts, splice taps and screws needed for installation; snap bushing, cord strain relief bushing, cord clamp and nylon spacers; and ballast operation information and wiring diagram. WITH TWO 96 watt compact fluorescent bulb (10000K/Deep Blue 03 Combo)

 

[JProx]

short answer: yes those bulbs won't hurt anything, but will make algea plentiful.

long answer: yrs back i had a 55gallon salt tank, with 1 10k full spectrum bulb, and an actinic blue bulb, for the tank. i had the bulbs in use for about 3months or so, then had to move, so down came the tank, back in may i set the tank back up, but went with freshwater this time around and i re - used those bulbs. the actinic blue was a complete waste since it's needed by coral and nothing else can use them, but it did put a nice deep blue on the fish in the tank, and i know myself and friends liked how it looked. algea was a minor problem though, every 2-3 weeks the tank would need to be scraped clean of it's algea, and after the tank was completely cycled, i got a plecto and he keeps the tank reasonably well cleaned.

you might not like the blue light though, this kit is probably being sold online, but i do know alot of petstores (my LFS for example) will let you trade in the bulbs for credit or swap out the bulbs to something you want/need. so you might even want to try asking them if they will let you, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.
another thing you could try is selling them on the forum, somebody should need/want an extra actinic blue, and/or 10k bulb.

lastly how much is the entire kit? i am sort of looking to over - haul my existing lighting, and that kit sounds exactly what i want, granted the price is right.

 

[Sulla]

Well I took a chance and ended up with it buying it off of ebay. I got the lights for 91.00 not including shipping. The price is around half of what I could order it for new. I figure the kit will give it a much brighter look than the single bulb old style (10 years) floresents that came with the tank. I also think that like you I will like the blue look. I hope that by not running the lights all the time and relying on the ambiant light during most of the day I can keep algea down.

Thanks again for the advice. Also if you are looking for one and cant find them on ebay I think http://www.ahsupply.com/96watt.htm has about the best prices.

 

[JProx]

i am running my bulbs for about 15ish hrs a day, currently it's a 120watts of total lighting, 1 60watt full spectrum, the other a 60watt actinic blue, and the tank takes about 2.5- 3weeks to get covered in algea, before the plecto went in. so if you shave the time down to 10-12hrs, it should slow the growth down some. however this is hard to say for certain, many things factor into algea growth, dissolved co2 levels, lighting quality, nitrates in the water, ectand there are a few more ways to limit the algea growth.

a) since you have the lighting.. add some plants into the tank, but just don't go overboard, 2-3 small plants should be just enough. the surplus of nitrates in the tank, will be absorbed by the plants and not the algea, thus limiting the growth of the algea.

b) get something that eats algea, a plecto is a great candidate, or even a snail, a nice large apple snail chugging along the gravelbed is a great sight to come home from work too.

c) get some algea-cide and put that in the tank, every month, and that will kill the algea.

now you said something about ambient lighting in the tank's room, if the ambient lighting is sunlight, it won't limit much if any algea growth. your new lights try an mimic the sun's nature rays.