50/50 Bulb?

[Ryehard]

I'm thinking of upgrading from a single 20 watt NO fixture to a 65 watt PC fixture and I've found a lot of deals on ebay. The only problem is that it seems like most of them come with a 50/50 bulb. I'm still not 100% on all the lighting terminology but it seemed to me from the lighting sticky that this would not be a good bulb for plant growth. Will I need to buy a new bulb for my fixture or will the 50/50 do for the time being?

 

[greenmaji]

ask the seller if they can include a 6500K CF bulb instead. (some of the e-bay sellers I have contacted will do this)

 

[malkore]

a 50/50 over a planted tank means you only get 50% of the usable spectrum, or about 32watts. The blue spectrum just isnt' that useful.

www.hellolights.com sells the correct coralife FW 65w with a 6500K bulb for about $53.

 

[Ryehard]

Thats not too bad. Yeah the cheaper ones on ebay won't include any other type of bulb with it unless I pay extra. And if it comes down to buying an extra 20 dollar bulb then I might as well go with a fixture thats a little more money (and probably more reliable). Do you think thats the cheapest option I have for something around that output, or does anyone know of any high output T5 fixtures I could get for cheaper?

 

[greenmaji]

Have you read the sticky about the heapum lights yet? (little joke in there)

Odyessy makes a T5-HO fixture as well..

I can't seem to find the seller that would swap out bulbs for me on E-bay for free.. I'd have to do a mad hunt again.. LOL