RM a bit more on light bulbs (NO florescent and CF types)

The Rated Life of a bulb, as supplied by the manufacturer, is an
average of how long the bulb will light. About 2% light for 180% of
the rated life, about 2% light for 20% of the rated life, though by
far the vast majority fall close to the manufacturers' averages. The
rated life of most tri-phosphor compact fluorescent bulbs is 8000 to
12000 hours. For an aquarium application, the effective life is
usually about 12 to 14 months -- or longer if your total lighting is
high relative to the needs of the species in your tank, especially for
freshwater setups.

The Color Rendering Index (CRI) for all 5500K bulbs is 91-92. That's
"excellent" in CRI talk. All other bulbs in the 6700K to 10000K range
have a good CRI in the low 80's. A common Cool White fluorescent bulb
usually has a CRI in the low 70's. That's considered "fair." CRI's
below 70 are considered "poor." Note that CRI is irrelevant for
marine setups when the aim is to simulate the appearance under many
feet of water rather than to simulate the appearance of colors under
full spectrum light. Blue actinic bulbs used on marine setups usually
have a CRI in the 20's or 30's.

The difference between CRI 92 and CRI 84, for instance, doesn't mean
that all colors are rendered with 8% less accuracy with CRI 84. It
only means that certain colors that depend on the wavelengths that the
CRI 84 bulb is lowest in will be rendered somewhat less accurately.
It is likely that the CRI 84 bulb will supply all the wavelengths
necessary to render all colors you are interested in very well.
That's why a CRI in the 80's is considered "good."

A lumen is essentially a measurement of brightness to the human eye
and is therefore very heavily weighted to the middle wavelengths of
light that the human eye responds to most readily. As such, this
measurement is not very helpful for aquarium applications since the
middle wavelengths are the least important to aquarium inhabitants.
To focus on lumens can be very misleading. For instance, the 55W
5500K bulb in the chart above has 4200 lumens while the 55W 6700K bulb
has 4600 lumens. Yet these bulbs have the same total light output.
The 6700K bulb simply has a little more of its output in the middle
wavelengths.

Bulbs with a Color Temperature of 5500K through 7800K are appropriate
for freshwater planted aquariums. There is no practical difference
regarding plant growth, but there is an appearance difference. Bulbs
around 5500K have a warmer daylight appearance similar to early
morning light. Bulbs around 6700K have an appearance more like
daylight in the middle of the afternoon under a clear blue sky. The
7800K bulb are just slightly bluer than the 6700K but maintain a
balanced, daylight spectrum.

While this data is pointed primarily at CF types of bulbs it also
applies to the NO florescent tubes as well, which is what your using.
Its easy to see that a common "shop" type bulb is in the CRI or below
rating and inappropriate to use for a planated aquariaum since it is
more than likely going to be less than a CRI of 70..and its this CRI
where plants gets it needed light energy from.

BTW in case yu did not know
NO means Normal Output
VHO....Very High Output
HO......High Output.

Magnetic ballasts..dirt cheap and usualy found on big box store shop
lights and cheap aquarium strip lights etc
Electronic ballasts more expensive and much better overall and last
and run cooler than magnetic

Just to show how important the right bulb and ballasts are its not
uncommon in a reef tank setup for a ballast that drives 2 or 3 of the
40 watt tubes to cost $300+ bucks but fortunately FW setups are not as
demanding on light sources as a reef tank is.and we can therefore get
by on proper bulbs and reflectors and use shop light ballasts and
sockets..........

Since you have typical NO ballasts you need to stay with a tube that
is meant for use with a NO ballast......Even though a VHO or even a
HO tube may light up inthe fixture the ballast is not sufficient to
drive the light at the proper cyles so you will loose not gain any
advantage in doing so.........VHO and HO ballasts are typically
electronic types where most shop light ballasts are magnetic, and run
much hotter and do not have the proper output to fire up and get full
advantage of VHO and HO tubes. You can get proper bulbs for FW planted
tanks in NO, VHO and HO so thats not a problem.

The lunar lights does nothing for a fish or plants or any thing other
than who is on the outside looking in as its merely
aesthetics............You'll hear some folks swear that lunar or moon
lights mekaes such and such do better, but thats a crock of bull$hit,
as unless a proper spectrum of light is used and the duration and
scheduling of the light is the same as the lunar cyle is, its not
gonna mean a thing.........and while some fokls have electronic
devices to simulate lunar cycle its still an iffy situaiton and really
not needed in sal****er or freshwater setups, however, adding a single
lunar (moon) light does make a very neat look to most any aquarium be
it freshwater or sal****er. NOrmallay folks use a white moon light in
Freshwater tanks and Blue moon lights for Reef or SW tanks......as
those colors more or less replicate what is seen underwater in each
catagory..............plus in a sal****er tank things floresce so the
blue makes it jump out na dbe very noticeable.......where its rare for
anyhting to "glow" in a freshwater setup except perhaps painted tank
decorations that have florescent paint on them.............but these
lunar lights do provide sufficieint light to observe fish at night
doing the fish thing......and its amazing whats some do at night,
without being disturbed by the main aquarium lights......YOu can get a
coralife clipon Moon light from Big Als for under $15 that is blue
and will work just fine or buy some blue or white auto accessory LEDs
sold in Wally World in the auto accessories dept that some folks
stick here and there inside their cars and they will provide the same
effect as well at about half the price.....