gzarr

I got my lighting housing unit and a bulb in it used with my combo purchase for my newest tank. The store lady said that it was pretty new and the bulb in it was new, too. However she said they had used the tank as a saltwater tank prior to my purchasing it, so I was wondering if this light bulb would be okay for freshwater plants as I plan to get some for this tank. Or do I need to buy a new one?
It's a Coralife trichromatic 6500k/Full Spectrum F30-T8-BP.
Thanks!

mathas

30W may or may not provide enough intensity for the plants you want, but the spectral output of that is actually geared more towards freshwater plants than a reef setup, so you should be fine.

Nutter

6,500k is fine for growing plants but I would replace it anyway. From what I have read of these tubes they arn't the greatest for plant growth & tend to promote algae growth. I would pick a different brand, probably with a kelvin rating of 6,700 or 10,000, designed specifically for freshwater aquariums. That way you know the exact age of the tube & that it is designed for what you want to use it for.

gzarr

So Coralife isn't the best brand for freshwater plants? What's a good bulb suggestion, then?

mathas

In my opinion, brand is completely irrelevant. If the bulb emits light in the correct spectra for photosynthesis, the bulb is fine... who makes the bulb has no bearing on that, really.

To find what the bulb emits, you'd have to look for the spectral power distribution graph on the box. Coralife's website doesn't contain this information, unfortunately. If the bulb has peaks in both the 430-450nm (low blue) and 640-660nm (low/middle red) ranges, the bulb should be adequate.

For what it's worth, I've used Coralife bulbs in the past and had good plant growth.

edit: I should clarify that I mean I find brand to be irrelevant from a photosynthetic perspective. If someone has had quality issues with a certain brand, then brand is not irrelevant to them.