Which T8 bulbs to buy?

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Which T8 bulbs to buy?
From: gtong at sirius_com (G.Tong)
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 12:13:01 -0800

>I recently got four electronic balasts (for $24.95 each) that can run 48
>inch, 36 inch, or 24 inch T8 bulbs.  I had hoped to find plant bulbs in 48
>inch and 24 inch lengths, such as gro and sho or gro-lux in the T8 size,
>but the electrical supply companies in Jackson, MS have not been able to
>find any in their catalogs.  Somewhat of a bummer after all the talk
>recently in this mailing list about how the T8 bulbs are better.  Does
>anybody know of a manufacturer who makes T8 plant bulbs?  If not, what T8
>bulbs are people using?

1. Hie thee to a lighting store (commercial probably) and find T8s with a
high kelvin and good CRI (color rendering index). I'd say get at least 5100
Kelvin and 80% CRI. GE's SPX lamps go higher than 5100 Kelvin in the
four-foot lengths; same with Sylvania.

2. I believe many if not all of the specialty aquarium lamps (PowerGlo,
etc.) are T8s.

3. My local GE store says the Aquarium/Plant lamps they sold have been
discontinued for inefficiency. Too bad because they had CRIs of 100 and
7500 Kelvin for a fraction of the cost of specialty aquarium lamps.

Greg. Tong
San Francisco, CA, USA
gtong at sirius_com

"Every infinity is composed of only two halves."