Planted tank lights

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L.BelcherII

Candiru
MFK Member
Feb 7, 2007
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I'm going to plant my tnak, but I don't quite understand the lighting exactly. What is the difference between a standard bulb and a plant specific light bulb?

My current set-up has three 65watt spot lights above it to light the tank. Is there a specific type of bulb I could get to replace the energy saver ones? Or are they OK?

I'm not shooting for a heavily planted tank to start, but I'd like the option to go as crazy with it as I want...
 
what type of bulbs do you have right now? are they incandescents or halogens? you normally wanna stay away from these for a planted tank. all they really do is generate heat. most popular options are fluorescents bulbs whether it be normal output, T5 high output, compact fluorescent, etc.

then you got the metal halide and the newest top-of-the-line LED lighting
 
and when people say plant specific bulb, this usually relates to the kelvin rating (K) of the bulb. for plants, you'll wanna stay with a kelvin rating of 10,000K or less. most common used bulbs are rated at 6,500 or 6,700K as well as 10,000K
 
It's for a 180 gallon tank.

Right now I have three compact fluorescent energy saver lights (the spiral ones) 65 watts (equivalent) each. They are in spotlights about 3' above my tank.

I can't find a K rating, but they put out about 600 lumen if that makes any sense.
 
i cant say for certain if that will work or not, but i dont think it will. even with low light plants. the bulbs are fine themselves, probably somewhere close to the 4000~6000k range, but i think they are too far above the tank and not enough watts.

if you want easy to grow plants, i would just use some normal output fluorescent lights above the tank. im assuming youre tank is 6' long, so if youre on a budget, i would get some 4' shoplights and toss in some 6500k bulbs and call it a day.

this is probably the cheapest and most effective option for low-light plants...
 
What if I put some higher output (100 watt equivalent) lights in the existing spotlights? I'd like to try this before I go crazy with something else.

I'm on a budget alright, and it's $0 :ROFL:
 
damn thats a tight budget!!! lol. as i said, im not sure how it will work since theyre so far above the tank, but you could give it a try. just stick with the easy low light plants first like anubias, mosses and ferns. if they start do die off, then you know you need some more lighting and this will cost you a few bucks at lowes/home depot...
 
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