Coralife Aqualight Bulb Recommendations

[OutKast]

What's up everyone,
I've been an avid reader of this forum for a couple months now. I didn't get interested in aqariums until a green terror in my roomate's tank died. Then I saw fishkeeping as a challenge and wanted to play God for myself. I was content with my little 15g planted tank until I saw some of your setups... Now I'm $1000 poorer and skip classes so I can stare and fiddle with my glass box :x .

Setup:
I have a 3-week old 55g freshwater planted tank. It's only modestly planted now with the "easy" to care for plants but I plan to densely plant it (with bright & "hard" plants) once I get my NPK in order.

My lighting consists of a Coralife Aqualight CF hood (48" 4x65W). It is currently populated with two Coralife brand 6,700K bulbs. The other two bulbs are the 10,000K ones, which I am planning to sell.

Goal:
I would like to add an additional bulb (that is not Coralife) to promote variety in lighting. I'd like to bring the WPG up to 3 so I can keep my glossostigma and riccia fluitans low. In the end, I want to have a variety of low-high light, red-green, and easy-hard to keep plants.

So, what would you pros out there recommend for a bulb? I have 130W now and probably 40-45G after water displacement.
-Watts
-Brand & model

Thanks in advance,
-PC

p.s. I'll call my LFS later today to see what bulbs they have and post so I can see what experiences you've had with them.

[Wasserpest]

The GE AquaRays 9325K 55W bulb seems to be a good one for planted tanks.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2211

[OutKast]

Is that product number (45859) out of date? Seach didn't yeild any results.

I probably need to clarify. I want a bulb that will fit into my Coralife hood, so a 4 pin straight pin arrangement that's around 20".

I couldn't find out if the GE 9325K bulbs are made in that pin arrangement.

-PC

[Momotaro]

The GE 9325K PC bulb is of straight pin arrangement.

Mike

[George Willms]

I would use a mixture of the ge bulbs and 6700K bulbs. Look very nice together.

[Urkevitz]

If you have a 4 x 65 watt coralife aqualight don't you already have over 4 watts per gallon?

[Urkevitz]

I was looking at one of these Aqualights at my LFS and I think they look great. But they are 260 watts. There are a few concerns I have about these lights though. One concern is the cost to run them. I was wondering if I could run just 2 bulbs for most of the day and then run all four for a few hours and get good plant growth. Also I am concerned about the amount of heat they produce. If I lay the light on the aquarium is there a chance of it melting the plastic on the tank? I am currently using 2 shop lights to light my tank. The results are good, but the lights just don't look good. If there is anyone out there that does run these lights for 12 hours a day what are your electrical costs. I pay 11.25 cents per KW/H. My tank is 55 gallons.

[George Willms]

They come wiht fans in them and two power cords, so you cuold run just 130 watts for a few hours and then turn on the full 260 for a few hours and then go back to 130 for a few hours and then turn them off. I stagger my lights like that in my fixture. I would buy the stands for them. I would not lay them directly on the tank.

[Urkevitz]

I wanted to avoid the legs because I don't like having the light reflect into my eyes.

[OutKast]

After reading this thread and other in this forum, I have decided to go with the GE 9325K bulbs. I'm going to go with the 40W in addition to my 2x65W Coralife 6700K bulbs over my 55g.

I plan on ordering from http://www.1000bulbs.com/, but there is a minimum order of $25. So I need one more person willing to spend $17+ to go in on an order with me. I can ship the bulbs to you for free (courtesy of my employer :twisted: ) once I get them.

Let me know if you're interested.

[Rex Grigg]

I was not aware that 1000bulbs carried the GE bulbs as a stock item. In fact I can't find them on their web site at all.

The best price I have seen lately on the GE bulbs is here http://www.atlantalightbulbs.com/eca...ch=F55BX/AR/FS

[OutKast]

Thanks Rex,

I was unknowingly looking at a 4K bulb. Atlantalightbulbs, eh? Their Marietta location is only 15 minutes away from me. Thanks for the heads up; I wouldn't have known about this place otherwise.

One more thing. I currently have 2x65W Coralife 6700K bulbs in use (other 2x65W slots are unused). If I add this 55W GE bulb then that will put me at 185W over a 55g tank (185/55=3.36WPG, 185/45=4.11WPG...not sure if you factor in water displacement).

So should I have 2 bulbs on for 10-12 hours and the 3rd bulb on for a few hours? Or just have all 3 on for the 10-12 hours? I have DIY CO2. The things I'm concerned about are:
- Keeping glossostigma low
- Growing red plants (and other high-light requirement plants)
- Maintenance (high WPG promote excessive growth)

Thanks all,
-PC

Note to self: change icon to UGA one until I become more advanced

[Fat Guy]

Originally Posted by George Willms

I would use a mixture of the ge bulbs and 6700K bulbs. Look very nice together.

That's what I do. I highly recommend that.

[Momotaro]

I have the same mix of bulbs and also think it looks fine.

Mike

[jake]

I have coralife aqualights on both my 75 gal and 29 gal. 75 gal is 4 x 65w 10000k and the 29 gal is 1x65w 6700k , 1x65w 10000k.

I've never had an issue with either light and I think they look fine. No algae problems or bad coloration. Maybe I'm just easily impressed, I dunno. I do wonder what that GE bulb would look like though. GE9325K much different from 10000k coralife? I wouldn't think there would be a staggering difference except for 10w and 675k?