Lighting Suggestions Needed

[froggsong]

Originally Posted by HewesHort

you are correct MtuPup, those speciality lights are usually over priced crap...

With the exception of the UVB producing bulbs.

[HewesHort]

good call froggsong,

[MtuPup]

i feel so used right now. I've been buying those overpriced systems for all my tanks.

So i did a hot lap around the local Wal Mart to check out their lighting. I'm having problems finding a lamp with the lumens output and spectrum.

[HewesHort]

if you are going with t-5s you may need to order the bulbs on the internet, buy the fixture at walmart or home depot. you may not find 6500k very easily, you might have to order them online or get them from a hydroponics store

[MtuPup]

Still working on the T5's for my 55gal, but I had another question:

Have you seen the plant/aquarium tubes from GE which seem to be redialy available everywhere? I have a rack of 5 gallon holding tanks started and I was thinking that these might work? each tank is hydroton with substrate and will probably have a little plant - these are just temp tanks for new frogs.

[Epiphile]

Any fluorescent light will work, in my opinion, provided it's giving you sufficient light. Those plant/aquarium lamps are fine, but they put off a really ugly pink light- if you use them, use them in conjunction with a cool white lamp and it'll look a bit better.

[beckdg]

i have used the plant/aquarium tubes from ge and personally i think they're crap. if you are going for a regular fluorescent tube you'd be better off getting the ge daylight bulbs ime. they work fine although you'll probably want a double tube fixture as hewe stated earlier. the color is ugly too as suggested by epiphile.

edit: another note... if you buy your t-5 bulbs from a hydroponics store make sure to get a good look at what they have yourself. i have no idea what knowledge or experience your local stores may have but getting good common sense information like kelvin or nanometer ratings from my local shops is like pulling teeth. they just tried to talk to me about how metal halides and hid are better. they didn't realize i didn't want my animals well done and couldn't understand why i didn't go to a pet store. just my experiences from 3 local shops. you may not have the same problems but i figured it might help.

[MtuPup]

the color is ugly on the aquarium/plant bulbs? I found a 24'' T5 "grow" fixture at walmart for cheap too...I might get one and give it a shot.

[beckdg]

check out the spectrum on that "grow" bulb. i have only dealt with cfl's, t-8, and t-12 from walmart. in my experiences though the daylight bulbs have much better spectrums than their grow bulbs for plants. it might not be relevant but it's worth checking out.

and yes the aquarium plant bulbs produce an ungodly horrible pink haze type glow that's supposed to bring out the natural colors of brighter colored fish. i had mine for about 3 weeks before algae started consuming my fish tank and my plants were all dying. i tried putting it up in my room for a reading lamp for the old lady and she complained about headaches everytime she read under it. the whole room glowed pink and it was promptly tossed in the trash.

[MtuPup]

interesting...

ok so to recap stay away from pink light. pink light is the enemy.