Which light gives me blueish color?

[Milo]

I have a standard hood (20 gal long) and need a new bulb for just fish. It is a flourescent bulb with the two prongs on either end. No plants or corals. Just want something that gives me a more blue color vs yellowish or white. Even with the Zoo Med lights there are a bunch of options but cant find a resource that actually shows what the light looks like. Which would be my best option and I only mention zoo med because I see it at all the stores. I am open to anything.

Thanks for help

 

[mfdrookie516]

Doesn't really matter what brand. The color temperature is what you're looking for. As you get lower, light gets more red/yellow. The higher the number, the bluer. If you get a 10,000k bulb, you're going to have a nice white light. I wouldn't say it has much blue in it, but definitely not pink or yellow. As you get up in the 14000k-20,000k, you get in to the bluer light. Now if you want BLUE, a 420nm actinic bulb will do that. Almost purple blue. You don't want a single actinic as it won't give you any color at all IMO.

I have two lights on my 150g. No plants either, so it's just two 32w t8 bulbs. One's a 10,000k and one is an actinic. I get a nice bright light with blue tint when both are running.

 

[jenatron]

Continuing on what mfdrookie said, you could get a 50/50 bulb, which is half 10000k and half actinic. It's still got the blue of actinic, but it's not pure blue.