Bulbs VS Tubes

[WyldFya]

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

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.

Im sure this bulb is worthless but it came with.

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?

Neither bulbs will do well. Get a 6500-6700K T8 or T12 bulb. That will be more than adequate.

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

so the 150 watt grow bulbs will not do as well as a t8?

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

Could this be of any use? Picked it up awhile ago and forgot about it.

I know it says t12 so im guessing it wont do the trick but im being hopeful

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

Ok one last option ha ha sorry guys. A 3 foot t5 2 bulb fixture with the 10000k white and 10000k Actinic. I can get it for $55

 

[Rivermud]

You can always simply go to the Dumpster or Lowes and hit the lighting section. They sell the spiral bulbs rated at 6700k for about 4 bucks each. Last I looked anyway, these will do more than enough to provide adequate lighting. No need to spedn lots of money if you have parts that will work. And I apologize for my misconception of the light he was referring to. I don't deal with reptile lighting and assumes the grow bulbs were the same as the daylight bulbs for aquariums.

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

so these bulbs will be more than enough for the mangroves? if so that would be cheap and easy! what do I need to look for if I buy these bulbs? watts? luminens? Color Spectrum? I really have no idea so some hints to what to look for would be great.

 

[Rivermud]

the wattage and k rating.. but for your purpose the k rating since you'll have two of them.. that should be more than enough for the mangroves.. a lot of people grow them with nothing more than window light or regular house lighting.. though not well they still grow

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

but what k rating am i looking for?

 

[Rivermud]

Daylight 6500k roughly.. would be my choice personally.. i could be wrong

 

[WyldFya]

The best thing you can do, is to buy a specific bulb for aquatic plant growth. These will no only have the proper spectrum, but also have the right temp.