New bulbs

[blizowman1]

So I'm coming up on time to replace my bulbs in my 3x54w t5ho Catalina aquarium fixture. It's sitting on top of my 90g planted tank... I need help deciding on which brand bulb to replace them with.... I've been looking at geisemann bulbs, probably 2 midday and 1 aqua flora...

Or I could just replace them with Catalina aquarium bulbs or just get some cheaper bulbs but I'm not sure if its worth buying the more expensive ones or not...... Please let me know what you guys use and what you think I should buy

 

[aqua_chem]

If you're going to go cheap, you can get Zoo Med or GE bulbs for $10 with your normal selection of temperature and spectrums. On the other end, you've got Giesemann for $20-25 a pop. The two options don't really compete with each other because you would pick either option for completely different reasons.

 

[blizowman1]

Are the geisemann worth paying the 20-25 bucks a bulb

 

[blizowman1]

What would the completely different reasons be?

 

[aqua_chem]

Cheap bulbs if you need bulbs but don't want to spend a bunch of money, expensive bulbs if you want to maximize results and don't care about the cost.

 

[blizowman1]

So if I go for the geiesmann bulb will they last longer than six months?

 

[blizowman1]

Ok so I went ahead and ordered the giesemann bulbs for my tank I ended up getting 2- 6000k midday and 1- aquaflora. And I have to say I am loving the way they look. They aren't as bright to the eye as the catalina bulbs I had but they make my tank look great.

Here is a before pic

Here is after I put the new bulbs in

 

[aqua_chem]

The lack of brightnesses is coming from he aquaflora. Its spectrum is a bit warmer which causes an illusion of dimness.

 

[Rivercats]

I just changed out my 4 T5HO bulbs to Geisemann Midday 6000K bulbs last week and I love how the color on my non-green plants look. They actually look like true color they should be. I couldn't be happier and feel the extra money was well worth it.

 

[blizowman1]

I've also read that the dimmer the light is actually better for the planted tank because it means less in the green spectrum which the plants don't really use... Even with it dimmer I noticed I had to bump up my co2 to get my drop checker to turn green