7800k plant light, 17 watts enough light

[wildroseofky]

I was planning on buying a new T5 light for my 29 gallon tank but my funds met with an emergency. I am using a 4ft shop light with 6500k bulbs right now. It is way to big and bulky. I have a couple of 24" plant lights with 17 watt, 7800k single bulbs that I have used to grow seedlings for my garden. If I buy new bulbs, if I can find them, will they give me medium light. The whole light is just $11 a piece at Walmarts. I thought I would take the plastic cover off the bulbs, mount them side by side, and build a reflector for them. They are thin so I could mount three of them together if that would be better. That would give me 51 watts of light. I am running a diy CO2 setup. What degree of light would this give me?

I saw on another forum where people were using those round clamp lights with CFL spiral bulbs to light their tanks. Those are cheap at $8 a fixture plus the cost of spiral bulbs. Would that be a better setup for right now? Have to start saving again to get a T5 light.

 

[Andyg23]

I use the grow lights you're talking about and buy my bulbs at lowes for about $6 each. They have special plant/aquarium bulbs in all different sizes. I run 1 of them on my 10 gallon and can't keep the plants trimmed fast enough.

 

[wildroseofky]

I went to Lowes and Walmart tonight and had no luck finding replacement bulbs for the plant lights I have. The bulbs in them still light up but they have been running for about a year so I figured they needed replaced. Nether place had the bulbs. Walmart did have a T5 under cabinet link able strip light for around $10. It only came with a 15 watt 4200k bulb though. They didn't have 6500k bulbs for them though. I ended up buying 3 of these lights.Bayco 150-Watt Incandescent Clamp Light - Walmart.com and a pack of 75 watt 6500k compact fluorescent bulbs. I am going to try that and see how it works out. If I don't like it I will go back to walmart and get a couple of the plant lights with the 7800k bulbs. If I can find the right size T5 bulbs to fit the under cabinet light from Walmart I would just go ahead and get three of them.

Any one have any opinions on which of these setups would work best.

Option 1: Three 2ft, 17 watt T8 light with 7800k bulbs
Option 2: Three or Four 2ft, 15 watt T5 lights with 6500k bulbs
Option 3: three 8 1/2 inch dome clamp lights with 6500k compact fluorescent bulbs

Each setup would cost about the same. Under $50