Shoplight Fixture

[Riss]

I just bought a double 48" shoplight fixture and was wondering if the tubes you buy from petshops fit these exactly???

I wasn't sure if the shoplight's were the exact same size as the 4ft lights you buy at fish shops??

 

[depthC]

Yes all 4 foot lights are the same just some like the ones you see at the pet store have different K ratings for different enviroments and so on. The ones at the petstore are expensive. So if the tank is just for fish and you dont have to support plant life then go to a hardware store to get your bulbs they will be way cheaper. But if you have plants the plant-gro bulbs have a good K rating prefered by plants and i dont think you can find them at a hardware store.

- depthC

 

[RedTurquoise]

Even if you do have plants, I would still buy the cool whites for only a faction of the cost. The extra color temp. does not increase plant growth enough to justify the cost of getting a 'plant' rated light. If you read the article in the article section about fluorescents, it verifies that the cool whites vs. the plant grows did not differ much. Its more or less to suck money out of the people though I do prefer the look in my tank with higher K lights but the plants dont care too much. They want lots a light.