New lights

Those lights would be perfect for a reef tank. Unfortunately for a planted tank they are no good. I'd assume the blue bulbs would be actinics somewhere around 420K. You want bulbs around 6700K. Did you buy this fixture new? If so maybe your LFS would exchange the bulbs for the correct ones.

Most folks figure the ideal range for planted is somewhere between 5000K and 1000K. 6700K is a popular bulb, but not necessarily required (I have one 96w 6700K bulb sitting on top of my 30g).

Plants like light and will use what they can find, so it turns into a question of how efficiently they can use the light you're giving them.

Actinics are very blue (I think they're 20000K) and not really appropriate for planted. They're for reefers who are trying to recreate lighting at 30 feet down. Planted is going for a foot or two down… much warmer light. I'd try to return the actinics.

The 12000K bulbs are to the cool side but not that far out of range. They might be a little less efficient but they're still throwing a lot of useful light. If you paired them with two 5000Ks or 6700Ks you'd be in pretty good shape. I recently saw some photos on another planted forum where the poster was singing the praises of (I think) 9300s. A good bit of it comes down to personal preference: some folks like cooler (higher number) some like warmer.

AH Supply is a good source for bulbs (they can be hard to find).

A good CF bulb for your fixture to replace the Actinics and even possibly the 12000K bulbs are

GE 9325K bulbs. This is the same coloration as the GE AquaRay bulbs.

I do believe they are only available in straight-pin(Linear) configuration.

you can buy them at:
LightbulbsDirect

I believe if you're running 65W ballasts, the 55W bulbs should work. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but for $15 each, definately a great deal! In fact, I'm ordering 2 of them for my tank tomorrow!


Hope this helps!

-TF

Lighting level

Naps:
You better get some shades and sun block for the fishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

So on my new 80g tank I have (4) 65 w compact flourescent lights.

Click to expand...

Thats pretty bright for freshwater fishies IMHO. Compact Fluorescent lights are like 150% (or more?) brighter than standard T12 fluorescent bulbs. At 150% for example, your 260W worth of CF is the equivelent as about 400W of standard fluorescent lighting. That would probably be enough to grow most any plant even in twice the size of tank that you have (assuming the color temp is acceptable). Just a note, I had been using 4 GE plant&aquarium bulbs for about 2 years on my planted tanks. I think I read somewhere that they are only like 3500K or something. Seemed to work alright, but I have since upgraded to philips daylight deluxe bulbs (6500K I think) I have also overdriven them 2X so they put out about the same amount of light as a CF but only cost about $3/bulb.