"plant/aquarium bulb"

[lymabean]

Aright, i just picked up an 18'' flourescant one of these for my 20g. Its supposedly better than a regular 15 watt for plant growth. Anyone have any experience with these? DO they work? if not its not a big deal, its 3.50$ at home depot. btw, it gives off a dimmish yellow light as opposed to the purple/white light aof a normal flourescent. just letting you know.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

the best luck and best look i have had are with just reg day light bulbs.

 

[Cory Keeper]

not enough light. need like 3 of them.

 

[gvildawg]

Yep, you need 2-3 watts per gallon. I have used those bulbs and I like them. The reason they are more expensive is because they are "tuned" to a wavelength plants like best.

 

[lymabean]

i dont think i can get more bulbs. i can try and switch the balisk on my light to support a second bulb, but it seems like too much trouble to go through, for a rather small and kinda temperary tank. The plants are doing ok with the regular bulb, i thought maybe this would just make em a bit greener and biger. o well. Im not going for a giant forest of a tank anyway. I think ill see how it goes.

 

[lymabean]

also i forgot to mention, that my tank gets a VERY nice amount of sunlight in it. Its right next to a window in my room, and it faces 2 more on the side of my room. also, i found out that if need be, i can change the ballasks (sp.) and then i can use 2 15 watt bulbs, but this will still not be enough!. My hood can only support a single light fixture without me having to pull off the feeding cover... uuuuh!