good flourescent bulbs?

[unfamous]

i just got a 100 gallon tank and it has two florescent fixtures. my tank is gonna be planted with mostly south american plants and i was wondering what are the best(brightest) florescent bulbs?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Brightest would probably be 10000K bulbs. 6500 are good too. I assume 48" and 4 bulbs.. I would go for 2 x 5000 Philips Natural sunshine and 2 x 6500K Philips daylight deluxe.

That would give you some nice light and good spectrum for growing plants.

 

[unfamous]

no actually its more like two bulbs

 

[penpitt]

You will need to add more lighting to grow plants. Assuming the bulbs are NO flourescent, you have at max about 80 watts. You really need to bring it up to about 200w.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I agree, I quoted 4 T8 bulbs since that is about 180w NOT12 equiv. a 100Gal with 2 T8 bulbs will not be that bright and growing all but the absolutely lowest light plants (Crypt, anubias and algae) will be difficult. However the bulbs I listed are for effectiveness and brightness. even going with 1 of each would be good. both are available from home depot for less then 5$ each. but I would highly recommend increasing the number of lights. if you intend to go up to high light w/ Co2 then Compact fluorescent fixture would be a nice addition.

 

[unfamous]

well i cant get more bulbs, the fixtures that came with the tank is only enough for one bulb in each fixture and there is two fixtures...i do plan on using co2 as well... i would think as long as i supplement them they would be ok with the best lighting that i can provide cuz i have cambomba in a 30 gallon tank with only one florescent tube and i supplement it and it is doing great...????