Lights from a home depot

[wrs]

would floresent lights from a store like home depot be okay for a planted tank? Low light plants only.

 

[abstract]

probably...wattage and color temp (kelvin) are still important though..although my 10g is low light with a standard fish fluorescent tube and the plants do well

 

[wrs]

the 18 inchers from there are only 15 watts as well.

 

[Wiggler 1]

I bought my tubes at Home depot ...bought 1 36" plant aquarium 30watt and 2 24" plant aquarium 20 watt. This was 3 weeks ago and I found that my plants that need light got healtheir they got greener and look good. cut off brown spots and they have not come back. The tubes cost me $30 compared to $40 for one at LFS. They had 6700k tubes 30watt at depot which I think are better but I went the aquarium tube way, these tubes gave a kinda red colour in tank. Hope this helps you out....I'm straped for dollars

 

[shuhu]

sorry to go a bit off topic here but on most lights at places like HomeDepot you can read at the box that:

15Watts of Fluorescent light are = to 70Watts of Incandescent light,
20Watts of Fluorescent light are = to 100Watts of Incandescent light ...and so on.

So if I get two 20Watts bulbs of fluorescent should I consider that as 200Watts or 40Watts for a planted tank

 

[abstract]

incandescent are next to useless when it comes to planted tanks...

no offense....but how would 40 watts of fluorescent possibly equal 200 watts?

i'm sure they are comparing the brightness of a flurosecent tube vs. incandescent..i.e. a 10 watt flur. would light up the room as much as a 50 watt average light bulb

 

[wrs]

I a bit confussed now, so that 30 watts would be okay for the plants even though my tank is a 55 gallon, and that isnt even 1 watt per gallon?

 

[wrs]

I a bit confussed now, so that 30 watts would be okay for the plants even though my tank is a 55 gallon, and that isnt even 1 watt per gallon?

 

[abstract]

I a bit confussed now, so that 30 watts would be okay for the plants even though my tank is a 55 gallon, and that isnt even 1 watt per gallon?

[snapback]847151[/snapback]​

no one ever said that...you never even mentioned how big the tank was or how many bulbs you planned on buying..i'm not a psychic....as i already said "wattage and color temp are still important"

 

[wrs]

I a bit confussed now, so that 30 watts would be okay for the plants even though my tank is a 55 gallon, and that isnt even 1 watt per gallon?

[snapback]847151[/snapback]​

no one ever said that...you never even mentioned how big the tank was or how many bulbs you planned on buying..i'm not a psychic....as i already said "wattage and color temp are still important"

[snapback]847153[/snapback]​

no need to be sarcastic and rude.

 

[abstract]

no need to be sarcastic and rude.

[snapback]847167[/snapback]​

no need for me to try and help you either if you're going to criticize what i say....seriously, though, how was i supposed to know you planned on putting two of these tubes on a 55 gallon tank? your original question was

would floresent lights from a store like home depot be okay for a planted tank?

...

not my fault you instead wanted the answer to "will 30 watts of cheap lighting be enough for my 55 gallon planted tank" - it would've been that simple and i simply would've said "no, that probably won't work well", but instead people insist on being completly ambiguous when others are trying to help, so that they can get answers they want (or don't want) to hear and chastise them later..

glad i spent the time answering your question...apparently nobody else wanted to..

EDIT: ok, that was nasty of me, but a simple thank you could have done...or you could have ignored it, or anything...but people being ungrateful to those who offered advice is something i just can't handle

 

[wrs]

and when did you even ask what the tank size was? That Im not psychic thing was rude and sarcastic.

 

[abstract]

and when did you even ask what the tank size was? That Im not psychic thing was rude and sarcastic.

[snapback]847189[/snapback]​

when did a question of tank size arise? the question was regarding whether or not the lights at home depot (they have dozens of different styles of lights) would work in the planted tank....you didn't provide the tank size, specific light manufacturer, or ANY information....i'm NOT psychic - i wasn't trying to be rude or sarcastic by saying that - just pointing out that you can't expect people to just KNOW what your situation is....it's like asking "will my fish be OK together" and expecting a real answer without knowing what types of fish, size of tank, etc, etc..

if you're gonna take the time to type out the question, why not give a little information instead of expecting us to answer a totally different question than you provided....why couldn't you have just asked "will two 15watt GE fluorescent bulbs be enough light for my 55 gallon tank"

 

[George Farmer]

Chill guys

wrs - For low-light plants most flourescent tubes will do fine. You will need at least 1 WPG with reflectors to grow pretty much anything with long-term success.

As abstract states, colour temp. and spectrums are important to a degree but most plants aren't that fussy as long as you have enough physical light. Try to get at least 2 tubes - one a warm white, the other a cooler white, this way they will more likely satisfy the plants light requirements.

Good luck.

 

[abstract]

Chill guys

[snapback]847198[/snapback]​

sowwy