# What is the best flourescent bulb for growing?



## Bavarian3 (Oct 21, 2004)

what would u guys say is the best flourescent bulb is for growing? I have a 55g tank and am going to just be growing anubias and java fern, maybe some other easy to grow hardy plants as its a cichlid tank. I need a 36" bulb and i dont know which to get. Right now all i have is a 18000k 30 watt power -glo bulb and i want to start adding my plants and i know this isnt enough light. Also what should i get a t8 or t10 bulb?

id prefer to buy it from bigalsonline.com http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/category.xml?pcid1=1843;category_id=1849 or wherever is cheapest of my lfs is fine.


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

ZooMed bulbs are the best, IMO. The Flora Sun(8500K) is great for this purpose, both in terms of growth and viewing. The Ultra Sun is another good choice.

Use T-8 bulbs. Remember the smaller the diameter, the more effecient the bulb is.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

I like Triton bulbs, there are a number of T-8 bulbs. See USENET for some more on those.
T-5's and PC are good also.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## defdac (May 10, 2004)

Bavarian3 said:


> what would u guys say is the best flourescent bulb is for growing?


Ivo:s article at aquabotanic calculates PUR-efficiency for a number of bulbs:
http://www.aquabotanic.com/lightcompare.htm

I've made a Java-applications that takes a spectral distribution and samples it and calculates the PUR-efficiency. I've started to collect all efficiencies here:
http://defblog.akvarie.net/permalink/1402.html

You can send me spectral distributions + LUMENS + wattage and I will calculate the PUR-efficiency for you.

The best T8:s for growing would be Aquarelle, Triton, TLD840, Osram Fluora.

Best life/growth/economy will any tri-phosphor bulb have (Aquarelle, Triton, Aquastar) as they only loose to about 90% of their intensity until they go black. This is easy to test with two bulbs (one old and one new) and take an under exposed photo of them, do a gaussian blur on the picture and convert to grayscale and compare the highest RGB-value on each bulb. The difference will be about 90%. Here is such a photo with one year old Aquarelle next to a couple of days old Aquarelle:
http://defblog.akvarie.net/picture/1420.html


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## carpediem360 (Jan 2, 2005)

Becareful I heard cichlids DO NOT like plants. They will tear them up.


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

carpediem360 said:


> Becareful I heard cichlids DO NOT like plants. They will tear them up.


This is not entirely true, our friend Travis has proven to us how he successfully planted his Mbuna tank- http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3421

Maybe with other species it would be hard to keep it planted, but I think Bavarian was going to use mostly Anubias sp. and Java ferns; which are two species that aren't tasty salads for fish, except maybe for those darn Congo's... :roll:


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## Bavarian3 (Oct 21, 2004)

Raul-7 said:


> carpediem360 said:
> 
> 
> > Becareful I heard cichlids DO NOT like plants. They will tear them up.
> ...


WOW i am amazed with that tank and how far he went with planting. Looks like its doing pretty good so far. And yes i am only using java fern, vallissneria, and anubias nana. Although id like to know what this plant is as the grassy ground plant... http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=828


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## Bavarian3 (Oct 21, 2004)

defdac said:


> Bavarian3 said:
> 
> 
> > what would u guys say is the best flourescent bulb is for growing?
> ...


So which would be the cheapest? these would be better than florasun? I also would like to grow green algea so i dont know if that makes a difference.


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Bavarian3 said:


> Although id like to know what this plant is as the grassy ground plant... http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=828


It is plain old Riccia fluitans.

FloraSun has a nice color to it, not too blue and not too white...it's the nearly the same bulb Amano uses to light up his tanks.


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

if u consider t5 bulbs as florocents - so the osram 6500k is my fevorite


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## Bavarian3 (Oct 21, 2004)

i appreciate the qucik replies everyone. Where would be the best place for me to purchase plants from? i plan on ordering a good amount probably about 40-50 dollars worth so i want somewhere with good prices but not outrageous shipping, also with a good selection. I definetly want to grab some of that riccia. And does anyone know where i can get a flourasun bulb online other than that reptile store. I cant find it anywhere nor at my local fish stores.


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## Bavarian3 (Oct 21, 2004)

ok guys now my mind is boggled a bit. i ran across this...... http://www.hellolights.com/cl2x96wcoflb.html what do u guys think of that? go for it? seems like such a good deal to pass up even though i dont need this much light, it could be used for the future.


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