Here is the spectra for the sunblaster bulb compared to the spectra of natural light
So while in a sense, the sunblaster is full spectrum (in the sense that all areas of the visible light spectrum are outputed) they are not anywhere near being in line with natural sunlight.
And in our case, I think what we really want by the term full spectrum, is a term that describes light output that mimics the light output of the sun.
I don't know it for a fact, but that could be a tall order--I've never seen one (but that means bupkis).
It could also be--if it exists--a very expensive bulb, not to mention it may not exist in a fluorescent T5.
I still think the closest we can get at the moment is metal halide. Those just tend to be so intense and narrow they aren't a good option in most (relatively small) enclosures. I'd like to see one with a wider spread like a PAR38/BR40 perhaps. Bob at MegaRay was working on one at one point but I haven't heard anything in quite a while. Iwasaki Eye lighting is interesting to me as well but I have yet to get my hands on one to test out.
Incandescents are close too. At least closer than these fluorescents. I also found an led this morning but I'm not at my computer at the moment. I'll be more detailed later lol.
The best part, they have spectral analysis of all of their bulbs. I'm looking through them all right now trying to find the best one. But this actually looks promising for once.
Seems like red is really hard to get, but this one gets a lot more red than others, and is generally a much closer match to the sun than others.
What's Different With ABSOLUTE™?
Traditional white LEDs use 455 nanometer blue die as the underlying light source, and a dual-phosphor mix of green and red phosphors to achieve a semi-full spectrum light output.
This results in what is commonly referred to as the "cyan gap" - where there is a lack of light energy in the region between blue and green wavelengths, and an overshoot of blue wavelength energy. A close look at color rendering scores such as CRI R12 will also reveal that blue colors may appear over or under-saturated.
ABSOLUTE SERIES™ LEDs utilize a different method of producing white light to eliminate the cyan gap and blue overshoot. By shifting the underlying light source wavelength to a violet 420 nm die, a fuller, wider spectrum is made possible. This also provides energy coverage down to the nUV wavelength range.
So has anyone actually used any of the bulbs or led fixtures from Waveform Lighting? I came across this thread and im now curious. I currently use the sun blaster as my "full Spectrum" light. I'm curious to hear your experiences or thoughts if anyone has switched over to using these bulbs or fixtures posted above?
Nope I haven't. I haven't really pursued the topic much either since this.
So you are using the sunblaster bulb alongside your UVB ?
FWIW I did try using the sunblaster bulb on some seedling trays and it just wasn't enough light for them. I might have been a bit further away than I needed to be but still, I was disappointed in it in that regard. The fixture was only a foot or foot and a half above the trays max.
Yes I currently use the reptisun t5 hood along with the reptisun 10.0 t5 bulb as my uvb source. Along with the sunblaster and it’s full spectrum grow light bulb for my plants. It seems to be working great. The plants flourish and new seedlings grow every time I plant them. It’s about 1 feet away from the top of the soil mounted on the inside of the terrarium. I was only wondering if I needed to change it to give better and more realistic uva to my beardie. The spectrum on the waveform lighting looks really good.
Im currently thinking of getting this led fixture from waveform lighting to replace my sun blaster t5. https://store.waveformlighting.com/products/northlux-95-cri-t5-led-linear-light-fixture . They have two versions though, a 5000k and a 6500k version. Both are 95 CRI. they also have both spectrums on the site for each version. Not sure which one would replicate natural sunlight more though? Im thinking the 6500k. Can anyone confirm this?
The 5k is closer. But they both have a large spike in the blue spectra which is not natural for sunlight.
See my post up above: viewtopic.php?f=87&t=251054&p=1948567#p1901756
The 5k is closer just because it has more red than the 6500 does. Which is to be expected as the higher you go in Kelvin color, the more and more blue you get (or less and less red/yellow)
And remember, CRI means nothing in this application. CRI is human perception of light. Since dragons see light differently than we do, it's not a valid metric to compare what would be better or not for a dragon.
Natural sunlight spectra:
The numbers don't mean so much as does the actual curve of the graph and the representation of each color.
Ok good to know. I forgot that our perception is different. With that being said, I guess the spectrum would be better for the dragon on the waveform than the current 6400k that comes with the sunblaster?