Wal-Mart bulbs good for low-light?

S

Spclk1981

Freshwater n00b
Oct 4, 2004
54
0
0
45
Shelby Township, MI
www.wishuwerehere.us
I saw someone's pics in the "favorite online source" thread using the walmart bulbs.

Are these good for low-light? It'd suck to wait and grow them just to have them die off after sprouting.

Also, anyone that has them - how much are they?
 
Does Wal-mart make their own bulbs? I think Wal-mart is where the bulbs were purchased. Wal-mart sells GE bulbs (look in the lighting section, not pet section) that will grow plants. The GE Chroma-50 (bright orange package listed as "Sunshine") has decent specs. GE Plant&Aquaria bulb will work too. Both are $5-$6 a piece no matter what the size. I have one of each (24") over my 15gal shrimp tank. The java moss and java fern don't complain.
If the Sunshine bulb looks too yellow to you, check out your local hardware store for Phillips Daylight bulbs (listed as 6500K). These are also <$10US.
 
OOPS...sorry, I didn't mean light bulbs.

I meant the Wal-mart "grow your own plant" plant bulbs. Drop 'em in the tank, and they sprout.
 
Ime they grow well with the 30 watts of light I have on my 20 gallon tank. But the more other plants in the tank the less well they grow. aponegetons in general ime don't compete with other plants for nutrients that well.
 
Oops! I did. Sorry.:) Bulbs + low light registered light bulbs. Do I get a ticket for speed reading? :D
 
LOL! I was thinking tubes also.

I have good experience with the prepackaged Apon hybrid tubers. Maybe only about 50% plant development from them, but at that price, who cares? My setups are moderate light (~2W/gal +/-), and I do root-feed the Apons once they are well started (alternately pieces of Jobes's spikes -well buried - and Flourish tabs). Some go dormant and do not come back, some precious few last for years (and are prized for that). Big, nice plants for little effort and less cost.
 
I just snagged a pack of these, 5 bulbs were in it:

One large, black-ish one
Two long, thin, brown, "hairy", cylindrical bulbs
Two small, brown, "hairy", round bulbs

any idea what I should expect it to produce?
I kinda just dumped them into my tank in a fairly empty area.
Do they need to be planted half into the substrate? or just left on top?

How long till they sprout?
How do you think they'll handle high light? (55w PC on a 15g long tank)

PS, perhaps a mod or Spclk1981 can change the title of this post to make it more clear that its not about light bulbs.
 
If I'm not mistaken Geoff, you just drop them in and let them do what they need to on their own. Wherever they drop, they're said to root themselves and establish that way. I bought some once and about half of the pack floated for a few weeks but eventually went to the bottom.....while 1 never did...... I would say half rooted themselves and sprouted... took about double the time stated on the pack, I'd say 4 - 6 weeks to do so though.... maybe every pack is different, I don't know but this is from my experience. I had this is a medium-light tank....
 
The best experience that I've had with them is the larger bulb package which only has about 3 bulbs. They grow pretty quickly and develop into great looking plants. The other package is just ok in performance IME.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom