# Which bulbs?



## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

I'm looking to revamp my tank and need new bulbs in my 100 gal tank, compact flourescents, (4) 55-watt bulbs positioned in a rectangle, so that they can be all 4 the same or arranged front/back.

Which bulbs would you recommend? 5500, 6700, 7800, 10000? If you suggest a mix, would there be any difference as to which were front and which were back?

Right now all I have is Bacopa, Rotala, corkscrew val, java fern, green lotus and some medium sized cryptocorynes. I hope to get a few more plants soon.


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## Bill Weber (Jul 17, 2005)

You have a mix of lighting requirements for the plants in your post. I would recommend the 10K bulbs because 4 bulbs for a 100 gallon tank would put you in the middle of the required light needs i.e. not too much but not bad.


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## MacFan (Jul 30, 2006)

My first tank had a mix of 5000/6500 but when I replaced them, I found a great deal on some 8700's and really liked them. I later built a tank with suspended metal halides and 10000 were the easiest to find and I found them to be excellent. So I've pretty much gone 10K on everything possible now. Generally you want better than 5K and the further you go towards 10K the whiter the light will be. Once you go past 10K you will be going towards the blue spectrum which is probably not what you want. If you come to the meeting this weekend, I can show you my setups and see what you think. My breeding/grow tanks are something lower, but were limited by the availability of low cost bulbs at home depot. They are actually in the daylight spectrum though, which is pretty tough to find there. Most bulbs either don't list it or are in the 3K range which is really yellow. 

Michael


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