Java Fern/anubias/micro Sword Help

Hey I am wanting to add an anubias, crested java fern, and some micro sword to my 5.5 gallon tank and have a few light bulbs to work with. I have a single light hood and a 15 watt incandescent bulb, a 25 watt incandescent bulb, and a 200 lumen LED bulb that seems to put off very little light. I am just wondering out of those three bulbs (if any) would be suitable for sustaining those three varieties of plants?
Thanks!

 

Hey I am wanting to add an anubias, crested java fern, and some micro sword to my 5.5 gallon tank and have a few light bulbs to work with. I have a single light hood and a 15 watt incandescent bulb, a 25 watt incandescent bulb, and a 200 lumen LED bulb that seems to put off very little light. I am just wondering out of those three bulbs (if any) would be suitable for sustaining those three varieties of plants?
Thanks!

Personally, I wouldn't try incandescents with plants. They may keep them alive for a few weeks, but you'll get pretty poor growth and a lot of algae due to the color spectrum. 200 Lumens is pretty dim, so the LEDs would probably be about worse.

If you can get by with it, shoot for a 6500K CFL. They aren't extremely common, but anything in the 4000k-8000k range would work. Most bulbs marked "daylight" are usually somewhere around that spectrum. If you have some extra cash to spend and don't mind getting rid of your hood, a clip-on lamp and a dimmable PAR 38 bulb would offer you some more control over brightness and would allow you to keep pretty much whatever you wanted. $$$ though.

 

I am super strapped for cash right now which was why I was really hoping one of those bulbs would at least keep my plants alive. The issue with my hood is that it only supports the really narrow, tube style bulbs so I don’t know if one of the CFL bulbs will fit seeing that they only seem to come in the wider spiral sizes. Do you know of any good CFLs that are narrower?

 

I am super strapped for cash right now which was why I was really hoping one of those bulbs would at least keep my plants alive. The issue with my hood is that it only supports the really narrow, tube style bulbs so I don’t know if one of the CFL bulbs will fit seeing that they only seem to come in the wider spiral sizes. Do you know of any good CFLs that are narrower?

That's a 4-pack spiral cfl, but it's supposedly only about 1 1/2" across. If the water shield is limiting your room, that's usually removable on hoods with a screwdriver.

 

Stick with the lights you have now and wait for our days to get longer. Is your room getting natural sunlight? Plants also need darkness. Be sure and turn the aquarium lights off at night. The process is necessary.

 

So looking through some cabinets I found a couple bulbs that fit in my hood.
I found a cfl that says it’s 3500k and 14 Watts
A led that is 9 Watts, 800 lumens and 5000k
And a led that is also 9 Watts and 800 lumens but is 2700k
Will any of these be suitable for the plants I want?