# Lighting



## MikeG (Nov 20, 2004)

I want to plant my 38 gallon tank i just have some questions. this will be my first time with aquatic plants/plants in general so i was wondering: what kind of light is needed to assist in the growth of aquatic plancs. i mean is there a special type of light bulb? or if i wanted to could i put a whole bunch of desk lamps on my tank? not that i would do that but what i am getting at is does the bulb matter? or does the light just have to be bright enough and positioned just above my tank?


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## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

Yes the type of bulb used is very important. Only certain types of light or spectral outputs are used by plants. Your LFS should have these bulbs in stock or you can order them from any online pet store. You want to look for bulbs that put out omething around 6500 to 7500 K, I believe that is the best for plants. If you are just starting out with live plants I would recommend a low light setup. So if you have a basic strip light you could buy a Flora bulb for it and use that. I guess it just depends what you want to grow and how much effot you want to put into it. I would decide if you want to go with a low, medium, or high lighting setup and then work from there. Like the idea of the multiple desk lamps by they way. Might get a little warm though.
Hope this helped.
Biz


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## MikeG (Nov 20, 2004)

Biznas Man said:


> Yes the type of bulb used is very important. Only certain types of light or spectral outputs are used by plants. Your LFS should have these bulbs in stock or you can order them from any online pet store. You want to look for bulbs that put out omething around 6500 to 7500 K, I believe that is the best for plants. If you are just starting out with live plants I would recommend a low light setup. So if you have a basic strip light you could buy a Flora bulb for it and use that. I guess it just depends what you want to grow and how much effot you want to put into it. I would decide if you want to go with a low, medium, or high lighting setup and then work from there. Like the idea of the multiple desk lamps by they way. Might get a little warm though.
> Hope this helped.
> Biz


Thanks man...i didnt know regular light bulbs wouldnt help.


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## traumatic (Jan 29, 2003)

really any light will work... The standard for color spectrum is 6500k to 10000k. For flourescent bulbs, I recommend T8's or smaller. You can buy common bulbs at any hardware department that will work fine. If you go w/ a compact flourescent there's a wide variety of bulbs available. Don't get 50/50 or actinic bulbs, those are for saltwater primarily.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

That is helpful to know.

I thought Actinic were good b/c it went through the water to the plant the with the smallest loss of Wattage.


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