# Bulbs designed for SAD



## daryn (Jul 25, 2008)

ive seen these fluorescent bulbs designed for people that suffer from SAD, does anyone know anything about them and if they would be any use for a planted tank, they are advertised as having a lighting spectrum very similar to the sun.


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## supersmirky (Oct 22, 2008)

From what I remember, the lighting spectrum just mimics the sun (providing Vit D) and overall better moods.

These should be fine for a planted tank but if you go to HD or Lowes you can also get varying spectrum bulbs that would work just as well.


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## daryn (Jul 25, 2008)

I take it the shops you mention are a kind of wholesale place, im in Scotland and have a business account with a place called CEF, they supply everything to do with lighting at a fraction of the cost of what a shop would charge (even for household bulbs) they have bulbs for everything, an expensive tube like the one im talking about for my 5 foot tank is about 2 pounds, one for my 2 foot tank costs about 90p. If its a bulb or anything to do with lighting they sell it.


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## supersmirky (Oct 22, 2008)

OH!!! I didn't even look to see that you were in Scottland. Yes, sounds like you should be able to get it from your shop then.


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## daryn (Jul 25, 2008)

Thanks for the info.


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## supersmirky (Oct 22, 2008)

You could go with a range anywhere in between 5k and 10k. Some mix the bulbs to have maybe a 6700k and a 9325k


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## marrow (Mar 4, 2007)

The fixtures for sad are often PC bulbs. Other then the spectrum the only difference in the fixtures is that they tend to have very good reflectors but otherwise it is just an expensive way to get a PC fixture. I am sure there are some real crap fixtures that are sold as SAD units that do not have the brightness required or levels used in the studies confirming effectiveness for SAD.


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## daryn (Jul 25, 2008)

Its a T8 bulb it is just sold as a bulb not a unit, it does seem a bit brighter than the other tubes ive got but not much, ive read the articles on here on lighting so was just asking incase i was missing something about this particular bulb since ive never seen them before and am using one on my tank just now, thanks for all the info.


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## tash (Jun 16, 2008)

SAD lights are sold on LUX not spectrum. It is generally reccomended that for treatment of SAD you get 15-30 minutes daily of 10,000 LUX light. So most bulbs/units are sold as 10,000LUX at X inches. (seems to me that X is useually equal to 12-21"). 10,000 LUX is suppost to be the same BRIGHTNESS as a nice clear sunny day. To me the color appears as white.

anyway, just trying to point out that LUX and Spectrum are not the same thing.


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## jmhart (Nov 13, 2007)

SAD cracks me up...right up there with RLS...where I come from it's called different strokes for different folks.


That being said, I second what tash had to say.


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