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Posted by Reel McKoi on December 29, 2007, 4:27 pm
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> wrote:
> :
> : Where I live the 6500K's are $10 and that's at Wal*Mart.
>
> I try to stay away from WalMart since they don't always treat their
> workforce very well.
They treat them like crap but they have the best prices around. When you're
retired that matters. :-)
> There is a place called Menards in the upper midwest. They sell
> 32 watt T8 Phillips Octron tubes for dirt cheap.
They wont fit in the 4' reflectors on 55g tanks. I Googled the name and
came up with loads of hits. I didn't find tubes. None of these stores are in
my state.
> : I've had no luck with plant tubes. The tanks looked dark and the plants
> : stretched.
>
> I never use just plant tubes. I mix a plant bulb with a bulb that
> provides light for a human eye.
>
> : > I have had really good luck with Seachem Flourish Excel. It helps
> keep
> : > my tank that tends to have a moderate algae problems to barely
> noticable
> : > algae here and there. Please note that it does kill certain kinds of
> : > plants (Vallisneria, Elodia (Anacharis), and Saggiteria. The product
> : > is way too expensive unless you buy it in bulk by the gallon jug.
> :
> : It is indeed expensive and we saw zero difference in either plant growth
> or
> : algae.
> This stuff completely cleared up a big mess in a very high light tank.
> It also helps in some containers and tanks that don't have CO2 added
> to them. But, this was used with an Estimative Index fertilizer
> schedule. I haven't tried it with other growing methods.
He knew I didn't have a high-light tank and couldn't afford the high cost of
Barr's products and shipping. I should have been told the truth right from
the start. I think it was a come-on to sell Barr's products.
> : Actually my plants do very well under the cool and warm bulbs, unless
> : there's a serious algae bloom as I have now.
> That mix will work. It's been used for decades by people growing indoor
> plants. However, many warm white bulbs don't have all that great of a
> spectrum. You want red and blues for plants. In some 4100K tubes, the
> red spikes were the same that were in the 3500K tube (The 3500K tube
> was pretty much a 4100K tube, minus the blues...) So, sometimes two
> good 4100K tubes will do better than a 4100K and a not-so-good 3500K.
>
> From a personal aesthics point of view, a 6500K tube looks better to my
> eye and is better at balancing up an ugly growLux tube. Of course,
> others will prefer the look of another tube!
--
RM....
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(ö>
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> :
> : Where I live the 6500K's are $10 and that's at Wal*Mart.
>
> I try to stay away from WalMart since they don't always treat their
> workforce very well.