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I just broke the Coralife 24" Colormax 65 Watt/6,700K bulb that i had overtop of my 29G

Here is the description of the Colormax bulb:

"These lamps are 50% Colormax and 50% 6700K. The Colormax is a color-enhancing, full spectrum lamp and the 6700K is a full spectrum plant lamp"

So, This means that half the bulb is good for plants.

Would it be better to get a FULL 6,700K 96Watt bulb (both tubes 6,700k) without the Colormax?

Alittle info I found thought I'd pass it along. After reading this you may want to replace the bulb that broke (I use 6700K bulbs) and keep one 50/50 in there. This really is a blessing because now you can start rotating your bulbs, Keeping an older bulb in while you burn in a new bulb. This will help with plant melting when you replace bulbs. The very strong light that cast off a new bulb is much stronger than a older bulb. So when you replace both bulbs it stress the plants and they will melt.
Remember you need to replace CF lights every 12 to 14 months, depending on the maker. The other thing you want to watch for is the pin config, if it is square or straight pinned.

Plant tanks require the correct lighting to be successful. One of the most common reasons for failure in growing plants in an aquarium has to be the use of the wrong lamp. Plants have two types of chlorophyll: A and B. Chlorophyll A absorbs light at 405 and 640 nm. Chlorophyll B has peak absorptions at 440 and 620 nm. Plant lamps are designed to emit light at red wavelengths to duplicate the light of the sun, but too much red color can cause aquatic plants to grow tall and thin. For best results, use a daylight (5000K) lamp in combination with an actinic white or actinic day lamp. The actinic day or white lamp is a mixture of 50-percent actinic (blue light) and 50-percent daylight. In large or deep aquariums, consider using HO or VHO lamps. Just remember, intensity is important.


Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

^ Thanks for that information.

Maybe i should try running a setup like this:

Coralife 50/50 Compact Fluorescent Lamp 36 Watt
Coralife 6,700K Compact Flourescent Lamp 65 Watt

That would give me my daylight, actinic light, and 6,700k plant spectrum. I would also have 101Watts over 29Gallons which works out to:
3.4 WPG

I thought that plants couldnt absorb Actinic Light (blue light)

I thought Actinic bulbs were only for coral and saltwater tanks? Am i mistaken?

That info came from a planted aquirum site, and I thought the same as you but you are mixing the bulbs. After reading up on it from several books and online sites, I gave it a try in one of my planted tanks. Guess what happened my plants stopped reaching for the sky and be thin, ands became more fuller and robust. I'm now planning on replaceing my bulbs with one 50/50 bulb and one 6700K in all my planted tanks. This is the thing I love about this hobby, I been doing sense the early 80's and i still get to learn new things, and new things a discovered all the time. My wife says it the only thing I do that I don't know everything about, I tell her I don't know everything about anything, but I confident.

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams