I'm planning on planting a 55 gallon tank that is in a car dealers showroom. Not a "plant guy" here but gonna give it a shot. What's the best T-8 bulb to throw in a standard 2 bulb aquarium hood for plant growth? Thanks in advance for all replies.-Everett
go to foster smith.com and read what they say about lighting. Now my tanks, I just do what Pete does. Use either a table lamp, clamp on lamp thing, etc that takes incandescence bulbs but buy the new screw in fluorescent bulbs. Fertilize with Miracle Grow every 2 weeks with 1/2 tsp per 20 gals. Karen
I do planted display tanks in commercial spaces for a living - adr's Karen, but most clients probably wouldn't go for clamp-ons with screw-ins.
48" twin T-8's gives you, what, a total of 64 watts, I think? That's going to be the low-end of marginal for a 55g planted tank. At any rate, go for the 6700k bulbs, replace them every year, and don't try growing anything too demanding. Better yet, if it's a nice fixture, retrofit it with compact fluorescents - try www.ahsupply.com
"adr's Karen, but most clients probably wouldn't go for clamp-ons with screw-ins." LOL I know. Karen
In some cases you can find bulbs with the same dimensions but higher wattage (specially in the screw-ons). As Kush said 6700K or similar is ideal, just try looking around for the highest wattage you can get (that your fixture can take of course) and that will be your best option.
Sorry for not being clear on the hood,it's actually a Perfecto or All-Glass or something with twin 24' bulbs and the tank does get indirect sunlight throughout the day. Is that gonna cut it for amazon swords and other easy-type plants? All I have in my fishroom is java moss and fern,floating watersprite,duckweed,anubias,etc. Been years since I've tried to do anything else. Thanks again.....................if it's not gonna work I might be able to talk them into a new high-powered hood for the aquarium,already re-vamped the filtration system,would really like to replace the whole thing though,been taking care of it for about six months now,it's hideous,neon blue gravel,plastic plants,etc..................feeling like I gotta measure up to "The Fish Tank Kings" or the setups on "Tanked"!.........................well not exactly,most of what they do is pretty ugly IMHO but the tanks themselves are incredible.
Last edited by carp13; 07-06-2012 at 12:43 PM.
This is what I myself would buy if I were setting up a 55g display on the cheap...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/48-216W-T5-4...ht_1373wt_1177
got me thinking now.....................never thought about buying fish stuff on ebay,usually buy at auctions,Ken's,etc......................gonna get myself in trouble with the old lady if I get to looking around!................thanks for all the good info Kush. Had no idea about the 6700K bulbs for plants,been buying 10,000k,the fishroom is in the basement,fish/tanks always seemed to be brighter under 10,000k.
There's no question, most fish do show better under the higher temperature bulbs. Plants grow better under the lower temperature bulbs, down to, say, 5500k. The 10,000k 'daylight' bulbs are a decent compromise. The fish look good and the plants will do pretty-much OK as long as you're careful about all your other parameters.
I've got one 5' show tank of blue turq discus lit under five 10,000k's and a single blue actininc in the front corner where there are no plants and the discus are fed - the fish look dynamite and, frankly, the fact that the plants don't grow as fast is a blessing what with all the other maintenance I have to do in there. On the other hand, I've got a couple of tanks with wild red alenquers and wild greens and IMO they look better under the yellower light at 6700k.
Sometimes you can also find the Zoo Med Aquasun fixtures on eBay really cheaply. I don't see any 48" ones listed right now though.Originally Posted by kush
I've bought 3 of them so far and they are nice T-5 fixtures. They even come with a set of cables if you want to hang them.
The last one I bought was an open box item without bulbs, so I just found hydro bulb listing and got some nice, cheap, high output bulbs for cheap.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks