Will Menard's Flourescent lights work for a standerd Fresh water tank or even I plant

I've had great luck with menards shop lights. Have some in the shop that are 10 years old with no problems. They also have T8 full spectrum bulbs at about the best price you will find around.
 
FWIW, I have had a few shoplites that said T12 on the box, but the ballast said they'd work on T8 also....tho most were T12 only. The worst ones were the Home Depot T8 ones...the ballasts didn't last long on them.
 
They also sell the ballasts only, at all of the above stores also.Some t-8's as low as $15.Im going to buy a t-8 ballast for one of my shoplights i got from home depot.
The t-12 ballast quit after three months.I put t-8 bulbs in it and it worked for that long.I have another shoplight with t-12 ballast and im using 40w t-12 phillips daylight deluxe bulbs 6500k.Some blue tinge in light color. Good for plants though.IMO the t-8's are a better buy.Try to find the t-8 shoplight and bulbs,and or t-8 ballast.Whiter bulbs with the daylight deluxe bulbs look great over the tank,all 6500k bulbs.
 
the size, t12 is bigger


I got 2 homedepot shop lights on my 270gal, made for t12's but i stuck 2 t8 in each and been kicken for a while now. I bought my gf's tank the same light and bulbs and it blew within the day. Either I just got a bad light or you really are not supposed to put t8 in a t12 light.

homedepot by me sells t5 shop lights for like 25-30$
 
^^^ The smaller the tube diameter...the more light (lumens) per watt for a given length.
A 48" 32W T8 will typically give you 10-30% more light than a 40W T12

I'd stick with T8 or T12 for now if it's a budget issue. T5's are a bit more rare + expensive right now.
The selection of T5 bulbs at your local DIY store typically isnt as good as for T12/T8 yet either.

Did you ever tell us what size of a tank this was? ..and if you plan to run it open top or glass top?
What plants do you plan to keep?
 
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