Light terminology?

[werlax]

Thanks for the help with the lighting/plant problem. I know, now,
that I have way too little light for the plants. In my 55 gallon I
have two separate hoods that each have an 18" fluorescent bulb with
the standard two pins on each end. I have been searching for a
replacement bulb, but it seems that I would need something around 55W
each. I can't find a good site that explains exactly what each bulb
is. Actinic, 10000K, light spectrum??? I just want to have healthy
plants and fish. :) Can someone direct me to a site that would
explain some of this, or just give a quick rundown on what I could
use?
Thanks for any help!

[Djay]

I think you need to have a hood that will accept 48", 40 watt fluorescent
lights. You can make a hood yourself. Spectrum is not all that important,
but the wattage is. Seems like you're shooting for 2 watts per gallon, so
you would need either 2 or 3 fluorescent tubes. I have a 70 gal with 5, 40
watt lights... CO2 injection becomes important at around 3 watts per gallon
and I have a pressurized system for my 70 gal. I got great plant growth
with my 37 gal/ 80 watt planted tank with DIY CO2. Your 55 gal is on the
edge of being too large for DIY CO2. Hope this helps?

DJay

"~Vicki ~" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks for the help with the lighting/plant problem. I know, now, that I
> have way too little light for the plants. In my 55 gallon I have two
> separate hoods that each have an 18" fluorescent bulb with the standard
> two pins on each end. I have been searching for a replacement bulb, but
> it seems that I would need something around 55W each. I can't find a
> good site that explains exactly what each bulb is. Actinic, 10000K,
> light spectrum??? I just want to have healthy plants and fish. :) Can
> someone direct me to a site that would explain some of this, or just
> give a quick rundown on what I could use?
> Thanks for any help!
> >
> >
> >
> I just switched from a full spectrum 6,000K 15w bulb to a 10.000K 15w
> deep reef bulb (package said for fresh water plants too) to see what
> changes it will make on my planted tank. Prior to this change the low
> light plants I have were doing beautifully. Actinic light is very blue
> light and acts like a black light to bring out the color of corals in a
> marine tank. It can also be used to bring out color in fish. Not sure
> how well it would do on plants tho. I am doing a little research with
> the new light to see how well it would do with low light corals in my
> salt water tank. If my plants do well than I will try it with corals.
>
> Vicki
>