lighting..

[pyro fiend]

now i seen this on 2 dif sites.. i seen people using normal lights or well. what seemed to be normal lights.. one i seen he grew plants to sell.. and he used normal looking lights.. like "shop lamps" and "heat lamps" but never said what he used.. can you grow plants with normal incandesent bulbs? or was he using a special grow bulb?

[aokashi]

sure, just use a regular fluorescent/cfl. I'm using my table lamp and a 6500k daylight cfl bulb :)

[pyro fiend]

thanks! i guess it wont cost an arm and a leg to start this sorority like i was begining to think :)

[Atena]

I sued to grow regular plants with just full spectrum florescent light bulbs under it. I don't have that much experience with aquatic plants though.

I got LED plant lights, so far so good.

[pyro fiend]

well till i get more plants ima hope that the normal bulb will work its better then it staying in that tube and getting little light i suppose.. ill have to get a cfl [w/e tht is] soon haha

i ghetto-fied it haha thats a old heat lamp with normal light bulb in it.. the clamps on another clamp from a broken light and broken ones on 2x4 haha XD hey its working XD

[Atena]

It works!

I had mine like that till I got LED lights.

[pyro fiend]

thease norm bulb work? or should i rly look into the cfl things?

[kfryman]

No you want CFLs, a normal light that is not around will not let the plants achieve photosynthesis, which usually leads to the downfall with plants. I would also lower thr light if you can. Not much useable light will reach the plants, meaning that there is almost no light hat they can use to photosynthesize, unless you have a TEK fixture, which that obviously isn't lol, you don't need the light that high.

So do make it a priority to get a 6500k bulb. I got a 15 watt CFL at my hardware store, it was the GE brand and it says 6500k on the side, note that when a bulb says natural day light it usually isn't 6500k and is lower on the spectrum.

[pyro fiend]

oh well thanks :P i kept light so high because its a 100watt bulb and didnt wana fry the plants or anything.. but i can bring it far down, even almost hav it on top of mesh i put on tank to keep a betta from jumping.. but i think tht close would lead to alot of evaporation :P

[aokashi]

I have a spare 6400k bulb I can send to you for about $4...
It's a little lower on the spectrum. LMK if you can't find any in the area.
you will probably need a cover for the tank D: evaporation could possible cause shortages:/