lighting question for a noobie

[vinniethethumb]

I'v finally switched out all of my artificial plants for live. They are all low maintenance low tech plants, and as I usually do being the impatient person that I am, because I get a little excited bought a color max bulb to make my fish look better. And it did the cardinals and by GBR look AWSOME. However it's not very bright compared to the full spectrum bulb that came with the tank and my post research tells me that it doesn't do any good for my plants. So my question is this is there a bulb that will do both that I won't have to go out and buy a new fixture for? I eventually would like to switch over to led but right now finances won't allow so i'm trying to get the best out of what I got. Any suggestion for my current situation as well as what I should shoot for in the future would be very much appreciated.

 

[Brookster123]

What kind if fixture is it? Is it a reddish colormax?

 

[vinniethethumb]

it's the fixture that came with the Aqueon 36g bow front kit. It's a 24" t8. The colormax is the aqueon brand it's pinkish color.

 

[Brookster123]

In that tall of a tank you'll really need to upgrade the fixture if you want to grow any low/med light plants. The Colormax bulb is actually pretty ok for low light plants though.. If you're liking exactly what is going on in your tank at the Moment than I wouldn't change anything..