Fluorescent light suggestion

[davethomasowns]

Hello all!
Just upgraded from a 20g aquarium to a 29g aquarium. It is hard to explain, but I liked the fluorescent lighting in the smaller tank better than the new one. The old one looked brighter and more colorful. The new tank’s lighting seems darker and too white.

I went to Petco and saw that they had several different “shades” of fluorescent lights. Does anybody have any suggestion for a nice and bright bulb that would be good for growing plants too?

Thanks!!

 

[bassbonediva]

Is your fixture a T5 or a T8? Most stock fixtures are T8s and you generally want a "daylight" bulb, especially if you're growing plants. The other problem you'll find is that if it is the stock fixture on your 29gal, it's probably only 17W, which is nothing on a 29gal. Your 20gal probably had about the same watt fixture, so that's why it looked brighter. I've had a couple of different bulbs in the stock fixture that came with my 29gal (17W fixture) and I preferred the Penn-Plax Aquari-lux 20W bulb. Penn Plax Aquari-lux Fluorescent 24 Inch 20 Watt-Aquarium Lighting

Now that I've got my 2x24W T5 fixture, though, the old light just looks incredibly dim.