Please lightning help!!!

Hi, First thing is what kind of tank,and fish are you setting up and keeping and what kind of plants are you growing? I really don't think the spiral flo. are appropriate for your application. You really need the bulb to cover the entire lenght of the tank to ensure proper light coverage of the tank. So you really should use 48" bulbs only, as far as I am concerned. My next suggestion is the kelvin temp. of the bulbs. You need somewhere in the range of 6000 - 10000 k rating to simulate the proper amount of light spectrum emmitted for the plants to benefit. you can shop around there are many diffrent bulbs to choose from. The fish can get away with limited light but not plants. You are right in assuming you need about 110+ watts of light to achieve a good light source for the plants. my other suggestion is if you are building your own canopy you can save some $$ and make your own lights to retro fit underneath the canopy. What i did was built my own canopy then went to HOME DEPOT and bought 2 double strip flourescent ballast light kits. You do have to do some minor wiring though. You need to wire the plug and ballast together, quit simple and they can help you. Going this route can save you about $100+ ,bulbs included. The only thing with this way is you do need to vent your canopy as it does get warm under there,trust me. i just cut 4 ,3" holes in the top of the canopy. you can also get fancy and install a computer cooling fan($10). My other suggestion is to go with powr compact flo. lights, they work very nicely as they are high in wattage. But they are about $200 CAnadian here. I would explore the DIY methoid first as I did and I am happy with it. First get a plan together with your setup and go from there. Lastly I do not recommend cutting corners on your lighting as I beleive it is as important as your filtration. you will not regret it when you are all said and done. Good luck!!!!!!!!!
PS. One last thing about DIY lighting is to ensure the aquariumbulbs you use will fire in a flo. shop ballst kit. The guys at the LFS can help you with that. If not come back and ask.

If you are into the online thing, you could get two 24" 1x65 watt power compact light strips for $120 from BigAls & run them end to end (assuming you have a 48" long tank).

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog...16;page=2;sort=;pcid1=1843;pcid2=;breadcrumb=

Remember that the watt per gallon rule doesn't really apply to pc lighting. With 2.36 watt/gal of pc lighting, you could grow some of the more demanding plants. Anyone else agree?

I bought a 48 inch compact flourescent fixture from Big Als for my 55 gallon. It's the only light I've got on the tank and the swords, hornwort, and Java most I'm growing are fine.

The blue, or actinic, bulbs/light are for reef tanks not for fw plantsed tanks.

Take a look here http://www.ahsupply.com/

PC is probably refering to power compact. The actinic blue bulb is used primarily for salt water tanks for reef groath. The blue LED lights are a cool night light for the fish and simulates the moon at night. It makes the fish happy from my own experience. The day lights are good but as for how many watts you need depends on what kind of plants you want, the size of your tank, and the depth of your tank.