Gardening help

[chatfouz]

I have my used power compact 48" light I used for reefs. The bulbs burned out. I want to try to use it as a grow light for plants. But I have not found bulbs for it that are not "reef spectrum bulbs". I know technically plants is plants and the spectrum is the same. But so far I haven't found bulbs cheaper than 55$. Is there cheaper bulbs I could use? I know our aquarium bulbs are really strong to penetrate the water. I am new to plants. Is the pc lights too much or regular florescent lights better?

I know sun is best but my apt has no "outside". It is just door and parking lot. Not a ton of room outside. any advice would be great!

[JeffT]

I am not sure how close it relates to plants indoors, but on my freshwater planted tank I have 2 CF bulbs (1 is 6700K and the other 10K K). Plants grew very well. I was supplementing CO2 as well.

[NonSequitur]

I have a 10k MH aquarium lamp over my planted tank, and have very impressive plant growth, so aquarium lamps can be used if you can get them inexpensively.. from the research I've done 6500k lamps most closely approximate natural sunlight. One thing that could possibly help: the reason most people replace aquarium lamps is the color shifting in ways that encourages algae growth rather than coral growth (as well as some loss of brightness). A PC lamp that has been replaced after a year or so still has plenty of life left in it to grow many terrestrial plants, since it doesn't have to penetrate water any more and you can just place it closer to the plant if you need more intensity. You can probably get second-hand PC lamps very cheap (if not free) if you want to go that way. The challenge there, though, would be finding daylight PCs rather than 50/50.

Another option to consider: walmart sells shoplight fixtures that use f32t8 lamps for $10. Combine this with a pair of daylight spectrum lamps and you have a cheap plant light. Not sure how a pair of 32w t8 lamps compares to a used 96w PC lamp, but I know out of the box the PC lamp will blow the t8 away, and you can always move it farther from the plants if they show signs of stress.

[Gonzobob]

A couple of people have mentioned planted tanks. The lighting requirements for these will far exceed that for just plants. (I don't think your posting mentioned a planted tank and just wanted to mention that)

I made my plant lights (for a shelf of house plants) out of a T8 fixture purchased with ballast and daylight bulbs (5.6k) from Lowes. I don't remember the total cost but it was less then replacing a single PC bulb and the plants loved it.

[chatfouz]

I was asking because I spent a lot on this pc fixture. I have regular florescent fixtures. I have like 5 fixtures of various sizes. I just have to replace the bulbs. I just wasn't sure if it was better to spend the extra $ for a pc bulb or the ordinary florescent. wouldn't 50/50 bulbs be better though? I mean chlorophill use the blue and red end of spectrum and not the green middle part, the most efficent is the blue end of the spectrum. so a 50/50 be better for that wouldnt it?

Well if anyone has old pc bulbs that are no use for reefs Ill take them off your hands.

[caferacermike]

Talk to the folks at any hydroponics shop. They sell 6.5k bulbs, sometimes even 3k. Generally they are very cheap.

[+o0zarkawater]

You might also want to PM Hydro Innovations... he owns a Hydro shop out in Elgin, and I'm sure could help you out.