teach a noob about the aquatic plant world

ok hold on..you guys are talking about going to like home depot, buying a big *** long bulb, hanging it from my ceiling, spraypainting it so it doesnt blind my eyes, taking off my hood on my tank, etc?

all i wanna do, is take out the existing stock bulbs, and put in new ones in the hood.

and i know at petsmart they run for like 20-30 bucks each. so what type of bulb should i get from lowes/ home depot/ whatever? i dont understand all this 3000k t5 flourisecent stuff.
 
Works for me. Did you click on it or just copy and paste the partial address?
 
that must be a local link slappy.... the depot does that. it doesn't work for me either.

allec if your fixture is normal... shoplight bulb or house bulb style. go to hardware stores/home depot/walmart/lighting stores/ lowes... and find ge daylight in the style bulb you need.
 
I had a feeling that might be the issue. Anyway, here is the bulb in my link:


Philips 4 Ft. F40 T12 Spectrum Lamp, 40 Watt Daylight Deluxe Fluorescent Bulb (2-Pack)
Model 391235
$6.97 ea (price may vary from location)
 
allecb said:
my tank size is 55 gallons
and lighting..honestly, dont know? just your typical lighting setup youd get in any ordinary walmart/petsmart pack. heres a picture...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v664/saoxcore/IMG_0042.jpg
Click to expand...

See his pic.

He has 2 fixtures. That will be 2, 15w lights.

Java can and will grow under this. I've done it. It took a couple of years, but I ended up with a really big bush of the stuff.

The only thing you can do for lights with what you have, is change them for more 18" 15w bulbs.

Now if you want to do some DIY and spend a couple of bucks. You can try this stuff at AHSupply.
Somewhere in here ... http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm there's some DIY stuff for replacing the inards of your fixtures, with this stuff.
 
Sounds like his tank is a lot like mine was to begin with.

I fitted my 55 gallon with household CFLs from Lowe's and got up to 2.2wpg for under $40.


Search the forum for DIY lighting. In a nutshell. Unscrew the Flourescents that come with your hood. Wire up three light fixtures under each hood. (easier than it sounds- as I said... search the forum for DIY lighting) I found in my kit that came from Petsmart (same as what Walmart sells BTW) that I could fit three 22w CFLs under each of the two hoods snuggly.

Costs. Light sockets: $2.5 each.
CFL bulbs- Lowes has four packs of 22w CFLs in the right range (6500K) for under $12.
White spray paint (to spray the inside of the hood with so it reflects light down): $3
 
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