Lighting question.

[Exigenn]

So i bought a 60 gallon tank and want to really get more into the planted side. I have been playing around with pretty low light plants with success but want to look more into the medium/high light side of things.

I know this will require ferts/co2 but im not interested in that right now.

MARINELAND® 60 Gallon Heartland Aquarium Ensemble | Aquariums | PetSmart

This is the tank i got, it has 2 hoods with 18in bulb fixtures and is 24in tall.

I have a lifeglo on a different tank im pretty happy with but the 18in lifeglo bulbs are only like 15watts. its single bulb fixtures and being that deep i feel like the par (i think thats what it is) is going to be pretty crap.

Yes i realize the fixtures are not great but i don't have an extra hundred+ dollars to spend right now to get something better.

The problem is looking around i just see so many different makers and types, i know i don't want anything lower then like 5500k correct? But with how tall the tank is as well as it only having 2 bulbs in total i don't really know what the best bet would be.Eventually i would like a T5HO fixture but thats at least probably 6 months out possibly more and i want something that will make due for right now.

So what are my options here for some nice plant growing bulbs?

 

[unstopaBULLFish]

Maybe a single finnex fixture could get you into medium light? Not really an expert on this stuff


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[Brookster123]

Just get the 6500k full spectrum tubes. You're going to be stuck at low light in that tank unless you spend big on a fixture.

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[Exigenn]

Not that it is likely going to happen anytime particularly soon but which LED fixture would be best suited for this tank?

Bare in mind i would like to grow medium light plants, if i have an idea of cost i can start putting some $ aside, few bucks here few bucks their.

Also, for the time being is their any brand that has a better full spectrum bulb that any other? Or all basically the same thing.