# I need a new bulb for plants, help?



## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

My 30 gallon long, florescent bulb blew out today. So instead of replacing it with the same kind, I would like to get a bulb that I can use to grow plants under. I am a little confused as to what type I should buy. 

I don't plan on growing any high light plants, just some anacharis and maybe cabomba. Most of these plants died on me with the previous light (had to place what was left in the shrimp tank).

The blown bulb had F20T12-AR-FS 20w written on it. It is 24 inches long. I really have no idea what that writing means except the 20 watts.

So my question is, is there a light I can buy that will help my plants and fit the current hood?
(sorry if this is in the wrong section)


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Coralife makes a great t8 plant bulb. Anything between 5,000k and 10,000k will grow those plants. I usually tell people to get the 6,500k or 6,700k bulbs.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Thanks! I'm going to some fish stores today, hopefully one of them will have bulb you suggested.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

I had a change of plans yesterday and didn't make it to the pet store, but today I went to the local lowes. I picked up a temporary daylight T12 6500K bulb. Will this bulb be ok for about 2 month for my plants? I won't have the money to go to the fish store until then.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

I think it will be fine. Grogan said anything between 5000k and 10 000k will grow your plants right? Well that bulb fits in there and is daylight so I think it should work. If you see that your plants are growing I would wait longer than 2 months to replace it though because that would be a waste of money.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Thanks BettaGuy, I didn't know if it would work because it is not a t8 bulb. It is a lot brighter than the previous light I had. I know almost nothing about growing aquatic plants.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

daylight bulbs are fine..that is about all i use...even my T5 bulbs are daylight...i get them for about $3 each for 48"...


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

That's a relief to hear, it really brightened up the tank. Now my other aquariums look dull compared to it.
Here a shot of the brighter tank:


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Looks fine to me brightness wise, daylight bulbs are normally brighter than regular non daylight bulbs of the same strength.


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## Fuzz (Jan 27, 2012)

It might look bright, but it still might be low/medium light...which is fine if you aren't dosing co2.

According to the "PAR vs Distance" thread, you're on the line between low and medium light. High light doesn't really look all that much brighter, but it makes a difference for the plants. "low light" plants tend to stay down close to the substrate in high light. I had my lights in the "too high" range before. Crypt Undulatus was laying flat on my substrate and looked like starfish...here's a pic of my high light 55 (2 T5HO bulbs 21 inches from the substrate)


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

It probably is low or medium light, but I love how it brightens everything up. Although it's not the exact one I wanted, I think it will do ok for my anacharis, i'm floating it  If it does not do well I think I'll buy a t8 off the internet.
(I'm hoping the snails in this tank aren't plant eaters)

Plants with african cichlids? now that's a cool tank.


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

If you have the fixture for it, I have a spare 24" T5HO 10,000k bulb I wouldn't mind basically giving away for the cost of shipping and gas to the post office. It has only been used 2 months....... I just upgraded to a 3 foot, 4 bulb system, with 12,000K T5HO lights, so I have no use for the bulb anymore.


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

Good cheap bulbs are at Lowe's etc..... GE sunshine bulbs are 5000k and GE daylight bulbs are 6700k. Both are full spectrum and do fine for planted tanks. Like loha, that's all I use. You can see some results in my icon.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Murloc, I pm'd you.

BV77 your plants look real healthy and bushy. The bulb I bought is a GE daylight. The highest i could find was a 6500k. Do you use fertilizers? I'm thinking about it, but I don't know if i should.


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## Fuzz (Jan 27, 2012)

P.senegalus said:


> It probably is low or medium light, but I love how it brightens everything up. Although it's not the exact one I wanted, I think it will do ok for my anacharis, i'm floating it  If it does not do well I think I'll buy a t8 off the internet.
> (I'm hoping the snails in this tank aren't plant eaters)
> 
> Plants with african cichlids? now that's a cool tank.


Snails only eat decaying plant matter, algae, and excess food you might have in your tank. If you see a snail on your plants, you might be lacking in a nutrient or your fish might be picking at them. Plecos are supposedly a little too rough when they clean leaves and chew holes in leaves, which obviously isn't good....

In short, your snails won't harm your plants and ferts are EASY. Check out this site. Macro/Micro mix is a little more expensive than buying ferts individually, but its easy. 200ml of water and 1/4 cup of the dry mix...1-4 drops per gallon every day and you're all set(about 75 drops per tsp). I dose individually now, but I started with the macro/micro mix and it worked just fine.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Thanks for the information Fuzz, that's a good site, i think I may try fertilizers.
I plan to get some hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) for this tank, I like what I hear about its fast growing habits. Will my new bulb be too strong for it? I understand some low light plants can't handle higher light setups.


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## Fuzz (Jan 27, 2012)

i had hornwort for a short while. I didn't like the way that it grows. it sends out random side shoots and its long and slender until you have it for a long time and it gets bushy(or you can buy a lot of it to start with)...looks more like a weed than anything else IMO.

unless you've added more light than mentioned here, don't worry about it. You have to be in the high or the too high range to really damage plants.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Well if I don't like it after I try it, I'll put it in my pond(planned to put some out there anyway). I'm pretty sure my koi will succeed in eating some of it.
I just want a fast growing plant to start with, mainly for my shrimp and platies, then after I gain some aquatic plant experience, I can move to the more eye pleasing plants. I would rather not kill the expensive plants lol.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

If you want to see AMAZING growth check out my tank in this months tank of the month mine was tank 5 that won. 

I use mirical grow root tabs (amazing! Can't tell ya how great they are! Get some!!) and I put in mirical grow liquid and powdered (mix powder in bottle) the liquid one is for flowering (re growing new plants from old to maltiple) iv had great luck getting seads from my plants using the flowering mirical grow and cutting my lights to 6 hours a day then once seeded I bumped it back to 9 hours a day. 

Anyways sorry for the run on but use mirical grow. It's fish safe and it does wonders! Loha on here recomend it to me months ago and I thought it was crazy to do it then I grabed some from the store thought the idea of it was crazy had it for 2 weeks before I said screw it ill take the risk of killing my guppies lol. They did fine and still do fine EVERYDAY with a small dose of mirical grow both liquid flowering (for seeding) and growth mirical grow plus mirical grow root tabs. Give that a shot it will show results within a week. 

Also making a homemade co2 with some fish hose a little shuger and yeast and a old soda bottle you got yourself the classic co2 set up that costs about 5$ a month to run and I may be over pricing that.

Also your cheap daylight bulb grab another and you can make a amazing planted tank.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Cool tank Cory1990! That's the one I voted for.
Funny you mention miracle gro. I was just looking through the old threads to find info on using it I already have some for my other plants, I think I'll give it a try in the aquarium now. If it doesn't harm the snails, I'm adding the shrimp when my other plants come in.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I wish mirical grow killed snails but it doesn't lol (I have unwanted snails) but its aquarium safe. Just use your better judgment and pour in as much as possible. Lol just kidding, I have been putting in about 1/4th of a tablespoon every two days. 

Some say put in a little every week. Psh screw that I like my stuff to grow crazy fast. So I dump some in everyday or if I'm lazy every other day. But honestly if you have sand like I do that is not very breathable then use root tabs. They do wonders I got cheap mg ones and man I can't picture having a planted tank without the help from the mg


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Yep I have sand so the root tabs are on my list of things to get. Thanks for the tips!


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