55 hood
- Thread starter catof9
- Start date
Looks like 48" T12s?
Lowes and Home Depot have a variety of plant and 6500k color/temp range T12 lamps.
Lowes and Home Depot have a variety of plant and 6500k color/temp range T12 lamps.
Think, too, about what sort of plants you want to keep.
There is a limit to how much light will be created by these bulbs, and there will be little you can do to increase that.
Different spectrum bulbs will change the way your plants (and the rest of the tank) look, but not do much for plant growth, it will remain roughly the same.
I'd look for bulbs that are marked more than 5000K, but first see if the bulbs grow the plants you want. If there's not enough light, there will be little you can do other than change the fixture or change the plants to ones requiring lower light levels.
if new bulbs grow plants well, I'd go from there.
GE made a specific T12 light for plants + aquariums.. might be a good place to start.
There is a limit to how much light will be created by these bulbs, and there will be little you can do to increase that.
Different spectrum bulbs will change the way your plants (and the rest of the tank) look, but not do much for plant growth, it will remain roughly the same.
I'd look for bulbs that are marked more than 5000K, but first see if the bulbs grow the plants you want. If there's not enough light, there will be little you can do other than change the fixture or change the plants to ones requiring lower light levels.
if new bulbs grow plants well, I'd go from there.
GE made a specific T12 light for plants + aquariums.. might be a good place to start.
I've seen those as well at Lowes, Home Depot, etc, but they're getting harder to find in T12 format.
It may not be the best route, but the OP would have better luck finding appropriate lamps if he swapped the fixture(s) out for T8.
Doug, I'm not sure I agree with your statements in regards to spectrum or color/temp not being much of a factor for a tank with plants. Is it not the greens, reds and blues that stimulate plant growth?
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If I was going to retrofit, I'd choose something with good reflectors.. say T5HO or PC both had good options (Hagen GLO or AH Supply respectively come to mind for having awesome reflectors)
I think there's an AH Supply retrofit kit for a 55g (2x65w PC bulbs) if I remember correctly. You can likely find something used without too much problem.
But at some point, it will make mroe sense to just go with an LED fixture for all the control you might need.
I think there's an AH Supply retrofit kit for a 55g (2x65w PC bulbs) if I remember correctly. You can likely find something used without too much problem.
But at some point, it will make mroe sense to just go with an LED fixture for all the control you might need.
