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I want to grow plants in my 45 gal. tank. I'm lean toward getting one of these: http://www.jbjlighting.com/sys_formosa_ss_jd2.html
The thing that holds me back a little is the price of one of these units and also the prices for the replacement bulbs. Is this investment worth it, or can I grow plants with a regular fluorescent strip light?

if you can get bulbs for the regular fluorescent strip within the range of 5500-8000K then you can run just a normal strip light. even the fluorescent bulbs that are made for plant growth will help you out if you can find one in the same size as your strip (your t-number bulb i mean)

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

It depends on how high of lighting you want. For more light compacts may be necessary simply because of the ammount of space you have availible to put lights over. If you're okay with medium to low light plants then a regular florescent (I use a regular dual bulb strip) fixture may be just fine. Looking @that link those fixtures dont seem to provide all that much light .

^_^


[hr width='40%'] "Ah, yes," said the toad. "You've got Nac Mac Feegles!"

Hi,
First, you might want to decide upon the type of plants
that you want in the tank. By that I mean, do you want
plants that fall into the low, medium or high light demand
categories?
The "normal" canopies for aquariums come with either one
or two sets of sockets for flourscent tubes (normally
T8 or T12). The maximum wattage of those tubes is 40
watts. Thus, if you purchase a two tube canopy, you have
80 watts of light over a 45G tank, giving you 1.7 watts
of light. That amount of light will be fine for the low
light plants, and some of the medium light plants. However
the high light plants will not survive.

One way to "pack" more light into a given size canopy is
to use one that runs on the newer T5 tubes. These tubes
are only 5/8 inch in diameter vs the 1+ inches of the T8s
and T12s. Thus, you can have the same size canopy but with
up to 6 tubes in it.

Another way is to use the Power Compact Flourscent bulbs.
Because of their U shaped design, you essentially have
two bulbs in the space that one T12 would take up.

Yet another option is th VHO flourscent system, where
the bulbs are over driven with higher voltage, and
thus put out more light.

I switched to the PCFs years ago. I have two 65 watt
bulbs over a 30G tank. The two bulbs have separate cords
and I have each connected to a timer. One is set to come
on for 10hrs/day, and the other comes on for 4 hrs/day
(mid day, simulating the noon day sun).

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

incubus70

Today I priced a top quality twin 18ins PVC fluro unit, it has a very large seperate "Unit" sorry cannot think of correct name.
Using top quality fluro tubes 1 plant &amp; 1 daylight the total cost will be Aust$230

Before some have a heart attack please note I said top quality.

I am still using a 4ft pvc twin unit I purchased for my marine tank 25+ years ago. The only maintainence it has required is reconnect one of the conectors that goes into the end pieces. Naturally many replaced many tubes.
I work on the principal good quality is not cheap but is the cheapest in the long run.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Thanks for the info people . Just a follow-up, can I use the compact tubes on a normal strip light then?

Hi,
No, you cannot simply slip a Compact Flourscent tube into
a normal light strip.
The CF light has pins on one end only, and they are
either four pins in a straight line or four pins in
the form of a square.
They require their own sockets and canopy.
There are kits, but frankly, unless you are good
around electricity and handy with tools, it
would be better to purchase one.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I got my compact strip brand new off ebay for less than the bulbs themselves are worth. It was just inconvenient because I had 2 strips of 2 bulbs of regular floro on my 55g and it was covering the entire top. I put on a glass canopy and had lights all the way across which I had to move to get into the tank. If you really want a high light tank with co2, ferts, and fast growing plants then it's much easier to go with compacts. However you can still accomplish around 3wpg on many size tanks using reg floro it's just not as easy, convenient, or nice looking. It's also only $5 a 2 bulb fixture at walmart instead of $50 like I paid for my 220w fixture. The kits to turn a floro fixture into a compact one are actually nearly as much as just getting the compact in the first place. You have to replace all the parts anyway.