GE plant/aquarium bulbs

[Felf]

i was at walmart yesterday and i saw some GE plant/aquarium bulbs. the labels didnt say much and i'm not too familiar with the ratings on bulbs (unless it's spelled out for you like on the bulbs in LFSs) so i didnt buy them. has anyone ever used them in a planted tank with success?

 

[BillD]

They are a low output tube that tends to look reddish or pinkish. A better choice would be the 5000 K tubes that are called sun tubes or something similar. If you look on the tube it may say Croma 50. This is a much better choice as it has far more light output and a more natural look.

 

[greenmaji]

The GE daylight bulb is 6500K.. it should be for sale at the same places as the P&A bulb.. its a good choice for color.. not quite as much output as a 5000K tube, theoricly, though I just know from experience that they, the daylight bulbs, are easy to find..

 

[macfisto]

Hello,

I have also tried the GE plant/aquarium bulbs which are rated as a 90 CRI, with no K value listed on the box. I have also tried the Philips "Natural Sunshine" bulbs which are rated as 5000K and 92 CRI. Which one of these bulbs would be better for growing plants?? The Philips bulb appears much more yellow and thus the GE is more pleasing to the eye. Please let me know which one of these buls, or which bulb period, would be best to use.

Thanks!!

 

[malkore]

Here's my take: the GE plante & aquarium NO tubes have the same color of light as the GE 9325K 'AquaRays' power compacts.

based on this, I think they are using roughly the same phosphor coatings in the tubes on both bulb types. Therefore, I grabbed 2 GE plant bulbs and 2 generic Daylight bulbs, and tossed em over a 29gallon tank.

Whaddayaknow....they grow plants!

Seriously though, any bulb will work as long as its not an actinic or blacklight bulb...what it really boils down to is the intensity of light...and the color of light that looks most pleasing to your eyes on the plants and fish.

I don't care for the color of the GE plant/9325 bulbs so I always mix them with a more natural colored bulb (6500, 8800 or 10,000) so I can benefit from the light it puts out without having an ugly pink tank.

 

[BillD]

If you are going to choose between those two, definitely go for the 5000, as it outputs much more light, or as malkore suggested, a daylight tube, which is bluer. Ultimately it depends on whether you want things to look as they are or as you want them to.

 

[Felf]

thanks for all the replies