What kind of light?

[Knee-u-bee]

I had a MARINE GLO light that gave off blue light, at the time i liked the way it made the water look. Now that i bought some black  rocks it is now darker. I then wanted a white light. So i had my wife (who was already @ wal-mart) pick me up a white aquarium light. So when she got here i installed it and it came out kind of purplish light, not really bright white. So i headed to petsmart and bought a AQUA GLO, well thinking it would be a better, brighter white. It came out to be the same purplish light. So i started thinking maybe it takes a little time to get hot, to accually get white. But it dont look like it.

Any idea's? Other then just buying a home/ office bulb.

[Knee-u-bee]

Re: What kind of light?

In the middle of the picture down on the rocks u can see the purplish tint.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: What kind of light?

The Power-Glo is a nice white-light blue.

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: What kind of light?

try the light without your background on the tank.

[nacra99]

Re: What kind of light?

try the light without your background on the tank.

yeah.. i was just thinking the same thing

What exactly is your definition of 'white'? Light temperatures range from reddish to bluish.
Generally, people tend to call the bluish light "white".
Look at the temperature (color) of your fluorescent bulb. Anything 4,000K and below would give a reddish tint. 10,000K (Marine-Glo) should give the most blue. Use that as a guage to estimate what kind of light you are aiming for. Say you want a noon day sun (not quite red and not quite blue) then you want something around 7,000K - 8,000K.

HTH
Marc

[eklikewhoa]

Re: What kind of light?

9325k has a nice glow to it! but kinda pinkish......8000k is as close as to white I have seen.

[Knee-u-bee]

Re: What kind of light?

try the light without your background on the tank.

yeah.. i was just thinking the same thing

What exactly is your definition of 'white'? Light temperatures range from reddish to bluish.
Generally, people tend to call the bluish light "white".
Look at the temperature (color) of your fluorescent bulb. Anything 4,000K and below would give a reddish tint. 10,000K (Marine-Glo) should give the most blue. Use that as a guage to estimate what kind of light you are aiming for. Say you want a noon day sun (not quite red and not quite blue) then you want something around 7,000K - 8,000K.

HTH
Marc

How does the background affect the light?

I have a marine-glo, i like the color but its a little to blue, but yea i want something like noon day sun.

[Mzungu]

Re: What kind of light?

I've not noticed backgrounds really affecting the light, but more the perception of it.

[nacra99]

Re: What kind of light?

I would have thought that colored background reflects the similar color light back into the tank.
I had a SW tank whose background had been painted candy apple red and it kind turned my 50/50 actinic kinda purplish.

[Mzungu]

Re: What kind of light?



Eh, who knows?  :)

If that is one of those plastic backgrounds they sell by the inch, the other side might be black. You could always try switching it to see if it makes a difference.