Which bulb

I want a bulb that shows off blues and reds in my fish and is allso good for plants ,any help would be exultant cheers.

 

I don't think a bulb that has blue hues (which is most likely the actinic bulb) will be good for plants. I think what you'll need will be a "compromise" between a bulb that is blue and a bulb that is good for plants. That compromise will probably be something like a 10,000K (white daylight) bulb, though even this bulb may make the plants look somewhat unnatural. The best bulbs for natural plants are those with spectra below 10,000K - plants grow best under such spectra, and these spectra give nice hues that make the plants look beautiful. A 6,700K is great for planted tanks. There are also 6,700/10,000K bulbs - maybe these would be good for you. Or, as I've said above, the 10,000K one. If you go above 10,000K ... well, you'll have nice blue hues, but such a bulb won't be good for plant growth and it won't look good over a planted tank either.

Here are two good articles that explain various spectra of aquarium lighting, as well as what they all mean:
(1) (look at the drawing here)
(2) (this explains the bulbs from the drawing)

 

HI I went and got a new bulb its a Aqua-Glo .It seems that it is the bulb that I was looking for,it provides proper spectral output to simulate plant growth ,and enhances blue,red and orange in the fish, but I does say recommended in combintion with Sun-Glo or Life-Glo so I will get on of them soon .its amazing what a good bulb can do to the colours in the tank .Thanks boff ;D

 

I also use Hagen's Glo fluorescent tubes over my 30 gallon tank. I use Sun-Glo and Life-Glo, both of which seem to be working for my plants. I don't know how Aqua-Glo works on plants because when I bought it, I returned it to the store the next day (I didn't like the color, I thought it made my tank look too blue). But I hope it will make your plants grow. Perhaps it's recommended to be used with Life- or Sun- Glo because it's too blue when alone over a tank.

 

I know what you are saying about it not being perfect for plants on its own ,but it makes my boesmanI rainbows look amazing. Which one would you recommend Sun-Glo or Life-Glo to go with my Aqua-Glo cheers boff.

 

Well, I only have a single bulb fixture and I've never used two Hagen's Glo bulbs at once. Sun-Glo is yellowish and Life-Glo is a nice natural white color (just looks very natural - I like this bulb best of all Glos). It's hard for me to predict what the result will be when you mix Sun- or Life- Glo with Aqua-Glo, but I would guess that when you mix Life-Glo with Aqua-Glo, you'll still retain some of the blue hue in visible your light as the Life-Glo is very neutral and doesn't have more of yellow or blue visible to the naked eye. If you mix Sun-Glo with Aqua-Glo, I would guess you'll have less of the blue hue visible as the strong yellow in the Sun-Glo may, sort of, "offset" the blue in Aqua-Glo. But, these are just my conjectures - the surest way for you to see which mix would be best for you, is to try both Sun- and Life- Glos. If you buy these bulbs online at Petsmart or Petco, they shouldn't be that expensive. These bulbs are around $30 each at my LFS, but they're only around $15 online.