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Simi valley, ca

OK i built a nice germination box ! I'm using 4 x 48 inch bulbs- the middle two are Aquarium & plant bulbs from home depot , So my question is they put off a ("slight -Red-ish") color , Is this a normal color for these bulbs ?? Thanks in advance !

3/1/2012 12:20:31 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Yes it is. They tend to favor the infra red spectrum along with a bit of ultra violet in the 400 nm range. I would mix the others with a cool white good spectrum to use as well.

Keep the lights as close as you can with out touching,,allow for growth. Still get them out in the sun as soon as possible, a little at a time. 4 bulbs beleive it or not is still not much in the range of lumens

Bulb brightness
Depending on the type of lamp and efficiency, flourescent bulbs are rated initially between about 45 and 100 lumens per watt.

•A 100 watt Bulb is rated at approximately 1700 lumens
•A 60 watt incandescent bulb is rated at approximately 800 lumens
•A 40 watt bulb is rated at approximately 400 lumens
•A 25 watt bulb is rated at approximately 180 lumens
•A 4 watt night light bulb is rated at approximately 20 lumens
Light Measurement Equivalents and Common Illumination Levels:

- 1 square meter (M2) = 10.7638 ft2
- 1 LUX is defined as 1 lumen/ M2 of a surface; thus 1 LUX= 0.0929 FC,
- 1 foot candle (FC) is 1 Lumen/ ft2 of a surface; thus 1 FC=10.7638 LUX
- There are 12.57 square meters on the surface of a 1 meter radius sphere.

In real life objects are illuminated and measured in LUX:

- Full Daylight is about 10,000 LUX (imagine 10,000 lumens each and every square meter!)
- Cloudy day is about 1,000 LUX
- A lighted parking lot at night is about 10 LUX (average)
- A full moon is about 0.1 LUX

3/1/2012 12:49:28 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

In growing a reef aquarium... corals....half plant, half animal...this stuff is important...Good Luck

3/1/2012 12:50:33 PM

Simi valley, ca

Thanks , yes i am ALSO using 2 full spectrum cool white bulbs ,Along with the aquarium &plant bulbs, They are 40watts ea ,,,I Moved the ballasts outside box , soldered wires , as the ballasts are to hot for inside box ,

3/1/2012 6:03:00 PM