Bulbs VS Tubes

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Fish Eat Fish

Fish Eat Fish

Piranha
MFK Member
Sep 24, 2007
1,917
48
81
Mankato
What would work best for growing plants such as red mangroves...A two tube 4 foot regular fluorescent light fixture or two "grow bulbs" (not tubes but bulbs) from walmart???
 
well I know its a cheap fixture so assume its the lowest level
 
Will two 150 Watt grow bulbs work well for growing red mangrove?
 
lowest level doesnt help.... how many watts are the bulb you have now and read the K rating on the bulb so we can help out... also what size tank do you own?
 
Well, grow bulbs normaly run at 6500 or 6700 k, which is considered daylight temperature. Those lights will quite easilly be fine for mangroves. You will however have one heck of a power bill running 300 watts of lighting when you could achieve good results with much less. I bought a 4 foot strip light t-8 and 2 38watt 6500k bulbs for growing my plants for less than 25 bucks at the Dumpster. You'll need a lamp capable of running your bulbs as well so you may end up spending more money that you need. I suppose it would help if you could give an full explanation of how you are going to setup everything and what type of results you are looking for. Is this for a mangrove tank? special mangrove filter? hydroponic growing? will you have other plants? are you worried about algae? where will it be set up.. can you adjust light hieght and water temp. How long do you plan to run the lights? Sorry loads of questions to give you an accurate answer. You are aware they grow to 20 feet tall???
 
These bad boys
41Jf%2BfSP8RL._SS500_.jpg


What do you guys think?
 
Rivermud;1402378; said:
Well, grow bulbs normaly run at 6500 or 6700 k, which is considered daylight temperature. Those lights will quite easilly be fine for mangroves. You will however have one heck of a power bill running 300 watts of lighting when you could achieve good results with much less. I bought a 4 foot strip light t-8 and 2 38watt 6500k bulbs for growing my plants for less than 25 bucks at the Dumpster. You'll need a lamp capable of running your bulbs as well so you may end up spending more money that you need. I suppose it would help if you could give an full explanation of how you are going to setup everything and what type of results you are looking for. Is this for a mangrove tank? special mangrove filter? hydroponic growing? will you have other plants? are you worried about algae? where will it be set up.. can you adjust light hieght and water temp. How long do you plan to run the lights? Sorry loads of questions to give you an accurate answer. You are aware they grow to 20 feet tall???
Click to expand...

The mangroves are going into a 40+ gallon rubbermaid bin refugium. The water level can and will be adjusted. I want the plants to thrive as well as possible thus absorbing the most nutrients (Ammonia, Nitrite, mainly Nitrate). But i would like to save $$ on electricity. I was planning on running the lights for 12 hours daily and I was planning on having a few other very hardy plants with the mangroves. I am aware they grow huge! But they grow relatively slow and can be trimmed.

I have 2 of these fixtures that I could use for bulbs

watermark.php


I also got this for free the other day. Its about 18 inch. Im not an expert on lighting so im not sure if it would be of any use.

watermark.php


watermark.php


Im sure this bulb is worthless but it came with.

watermark.php


Is this set up with a different bulb anything usable?

My other option is a 4 foot tube setup for $5. I dont know anything about it as the description is one sentence and ive never seen it.

Would this bottom of the line fixture with decent tubes be my best solution?
 
Rivermud;1402378;1402378 said:
Well, grow bulbs normaly run at 6500 or 6700 k, which is considered daylight temperature. Those lights will quite easilly be fine for mangroves. You will however have one heck of a power bill running 300 watts of lighting when you could achieve good results with much less. I bought a 4 foot strip light t-8 and 2 38watt 6500k bulbs for growing my plants for less than 25 bucks at the Dumpster. You'll need a lamp capable of running your bulbs as well so you may end up spending more money that you need. I suppose it would help if you could give an full explanation of how you are going to setup everything and what type of results you are looking for. Is this for a mangrove tank? special mangrove filter? hydroponic growing? will you have other plants? are you worried about algae? where will it be set up.. can you adjust light hieght and water temp. How long do you plan to run the lights? Sorry loads of questions to give you an accurate answer. You are aware they grow to 20 feet tall???
Click to expand...
Grow bulbs usually run 2,300-2,500K, which is used for growth of terrestrial plants. 300W of lighting is nothing for cost. In my area, 300W will run me $4-5/month.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom