What kind of light do I have?

[Shanny]

So I'm taking baby steps towards plants. I've started doing some research and reading articles but I'm a little lost as to what I have and what is needed for easy, low light plants.

I have a 37g tall. The hood it came with is rated for 17w. I just bought a GLO light that says it's 18000K, 15w. It's 18" long. It shines kinda bluey purple. Also in the hood is a little, round cyclinder that has two metal posts and does a 1/4 turn to lock into place. It's say 22w. I have no idea what that is.

So how do I figure out what my light per gallon is? I know I saw it in a linked article or thread I read on here but I can't find it for the life of me now.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Oohitsae]

For plants, that K rating is probably too high. You want to stay in the 5000-8000ish range, 10,000 being the top and 65(7)00 being the most preferred.
I'd look into different bulbs

 

[ShaunRowley]

If you want to eventually make your way up to very difficult plants sometime down the road I would highly recommend you invest more into your lighting system now rather than buying several different units to accommodate the needs of your current plants. As apposed to buying standard "aquarium brand" lighting I recommend looking at "grow lights". You can find them on several different hardware stores websites. They're much cheaper than the typical aquarium oriented brands. And put out MUCH higher wattage and will produce healthier plants.
Here are a couple of units I've been looking at, you can find them on Home Depots website.

HomeSelects 4 ft. 4-Lamp High Output T5 Black Grow Light Fixture

ViaVolt 4 ft. 4-Bulb T5 High Output Copper Fluorescent Grow Light Fixture

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Those home depot ones are to be used with caution on an aquarium application. They're meant for terrestrial plants since i believe there's no splash guards. Also do the t5's they sell even have reflectors?

I think if money is an issue, some entry level Odyssea T5HO fixtures are a great value. They can be had from AquaTraders.com and they come with bulbs and free shipping.

 

[Shanny]

It came with an Eclipse Natural Daylight F15T8 but I've searched and searched and can't find a K rating on it. I have no plants right now. I also have goldies so I don't want to invest too much untill I figure out if they're going to decimate the plants. They get daily veg so I'm hoping they'll leave plants alone but no point going whole hog until I know.