What type of light is closer to sunlight?

[Henry100]

I am obsessed with trying to make my aquarium look as close to the natural environment as it can!What is the more ''natural'' light for an aquarium?I have read from Osram's site that skywhite is a new fluorescent light which has an output which is very close to the light produced by sun while the sky is blue during the day.Could this be a ''natural'' light for an aquarium?

[Blown 346]

Flourescent light has a Kelvin rating between 3.400 and 4,800 Kelvin.

5,000 Kelvin is natural sunlight, 4,000 Kelvin is Neutral white light, and is used for mainly general lighting, factories,warehouses,parking lots etc.

[kevin95695]

Light from a single source mimics the sun. So I would vote halide over fluorescent. Something in the kelvin rating between 5,500 kelvin (high noon) and 10,000 kelvin (overcast). Some of the newer LED systems with controllers can give you this range and they are programmable for 'storms' and solar and lunar cycles. About as natural as your going to get short of sticking your tank in the window.

[Mykayel]

As light passes through water, the shorter wave lenghts are "filtered" out leaving only the longer (blue) wave lenghts. So if you are trying to mimic the natural environment of a reef 30 feet deep, getting a light with a kelvan rating similar to the sun on a clear day doesn't make sense. That and it will look very "yellow". I personally like the crips white look with a hint of blue in my tank, and that's what I think matters most, whatever you think looks best that will also provide the required light for your organisms...

[kevin95695]

Good point

[aninjaatemyshoe]

If you want the closest to daylight lighting (not considering spectrum shifts due to water), an Iwasaki 6500K MH is about as close as they get. If you look up a comparison of the spectrum of this bulb and compare it to the natural spectrum, you'll see that they are very close. Also, metal halide gives the nice shimmer effect that looks closer to what you'd see in daylight.