bought a plant lamp

[mercury904]

I bought a plant lamp at my LFS and it is says that its a bulb specifically for plants heres th e specs 24 inch 20 watts 10000k...im plannin to use it in my 50 gallons.i would just like to ask if this light would be enough??.Is an actinic light a major plus in a planted freshwater tank?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

#1 - Actinic lights do nothing in FW except bring out fish colors.
#2 - That bulb is ok for plants, but for a 50G tank, if you have 2 bulbs in the hood, you are low light. So you would need to pick plants that are low light plants.

 

[WyldFya]

The bulb pictured looks to be a T12 which would follow the WPG rule. With 2 bulbs you still won't achieve 1 wpg, and for low light 1-3wpg is standard. Actinic is only for saltwater.

 

[mercury904]

#1 - Actinic lights do nothing in FW except bring out fish colors.
#2 - That bulb is ok for plants, but for a 50G tank, if you have 2 bulbs in the hood, you are low light. So you would need to pick plants that are low light plants.

so do i have to buy another one like this? whats the best type of light second to halides?

The bulb pictured looks to be a T12 which would follow the WPG rule. With 2 bulbs you still won't achieve 1 wpg, and for low light 1-3wpg is standard. Actinic is only for saltwater.

oic thanx, so this is the T12 hmmmm...

 

[mercury904]

how about this 10,000 k? to what does it pertain? and what does it do?

 

[mgamer20o0]

#1 - Actinic lights do nothing in FW except bring out fish colors.
#2 - That bulb is ok for plants, but for a 50G tank, if you have 2 bulbs in the hood, you are low light. So you would need to pick plants that are low light plants.

The bulb pictured looks to be a T12 which would follow the WPG rule. With 2 bulbs you still won't achieve 1 wpg, and for low light 1-3wpg is standard. Actinic is only for saltwater.

it does do something just very very little vs the reg bulbs.

how about this 10,000 k? to what does it pertain? and what does it do?

10k is fine. its just the color mark. most people to stay within 6500-10000 range.

i would really look into ditching that and look at lighting from ahsupply.com. its going to be less stressful. even if you just got one 55w set up your going to get more light in your tank then if you added 3 bulbs. that will at lest get you started with low light plants.

20w over a 50 gal tank just isnt going to cut it.

 

[Danyal]

actinitic bulbs produce almost completely blue spectrum light, the plants need light in the mainly the blue and red spectrum. so while actinitics will provide light that is good for the plants they only produce half of what's needed, that's why having ONLY actinics is not the best idea but they do work for plants if you can also have another bulb that will produce red spectrum light. 20w will work for some plants, but not very many.

 

[mercury904]

so whats the best bulb second to halides?

 

[mgamer20o0]

t5 and CF are better in my mind then MH.

 

[WyldFya]

I think MH has its place over the right shaped tank. HO T5 IMO is one of the best right now.