beast02

This is a really simple question, though I have no clue about lighting in aquariums what so ever. I have a 55g that came with the dual hoods and bulbs already supplied. These bulbs however, emit a purple-ish light. While it's not horrible, I would much rather just a clear light like the bulb on my 10g. I'm not quite sure how to explain it better, the link in my comment on the 55g should give you an idea of how it looks now and then look at the 10G picture and you can see how it's just a simple clear light. I just want a regular clear light, the bulbs are 15W, 18" can someone point me in the right direction here because at petco / petsmart the bulbs are so confusing. They have random names and I don't really know what I'm looking at / for. I should add that this tank is not planted, this is strictly for better viewing of the fish.

I feel like a little child typing this, but I'm really out of my league with lighting and this is about the best way I can find to word it. Thanks for anyone who can decipher that gibberish

catsma_97504

It sounds like you have an actnic type light or something similar that runs in the blue/purple end of the spectrum. How old is this lamp? Many bulbs need to be replaced every 6-months to run efficiently.

If you look on the bulb, it should state what type of light it is. This information would be helpful to determine what you currently have.

As far as finding a good lamp, you could purchase a white/daylight lamp that runs at 10,000K.

JRDroid

I agree with catsma

beast02

I just looked on my bulbs, they are 8,000K. I can't find the specific name of these but they are the Aqueon brand that came with the kit on my 55.

So for a basic white light I should be looking in the 10K range?

catsma_97504

8,000K is in the correct range. If you have standard fluorescent lighting, then each tube is most likely around 32 watts each. How many tubes do you have in your lighting fixture? This information will be necessary to determine your watt per gallon ratio to know the types of plants you will be successful at growing as well as determining if CO2 supplementation will be necessary.

If you look for a good daylight lamp, it will run in the 6500-10,000K range. It sounds to me like your current bulb naturally runs in the blue range.