Fluorescent Lighting Question

[ic3blink]

I have 4, 48" "Plant & Aquarium" bulbs

40w 1900-lumens

3" - 12" above my 8 clones.

its been just over two weeks and everyone seems fine.

I was curious if these bulbs would work out or what to look for in fluorescent lights.

ic3blink Reviewed by ic3blink on 07-23-2009. Fluorescent Lighting Question I have 4, 48" "Plant & Aquarium" bulbs 40w 1900-lumens 3" - 12" above my 8 clones. its been just over two weeks and everyone seems fine. I was curious if these bulbs would work out or what to look for in fluorescent lights. Rating: 5

[tinytoon]

what you need to find out is what part of the light spectrum those bulbs belong to or the color temp of the bulbs. you really want to run a vegging type bulb when starting clones and seedlings as this typ bulb is on the blue side of the light spectrum and hangs out about 6500k on the temp scale. A flowering bulb is higher on the red side of the spectrum and dips down around 2100k on the temp scale. To make it sweet and simple a bulb labeled as "Daylight" would be what you are looking for. when lit the light as a white brightness to it. "Soft" labeled bulb apear to have almost a yellowish look to them when lit because they are more red spectrum and that is what I believe you have atm but is pure speculation. Time to :jointsmile:

[ic3blink]

Why yes after some research i found this out about the bulbs.

â?¢ PHOTOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS
â?¢ Initial Lumens: 1900
â?¢ Nominal Initial Lumens per Watt: 47
â?¢ Color Temperature: 3100 K
â?¢ Color Rendering Index (CRI): 90

General Electric F40PL/AQ/ECO GE Plant & Aquarium T12 - Plant; Terrarium (49893) (6 Pack) at PlumberSurplus.com

there's a more detail description there. I guess it seems like i should be fine using f40PL/AQ/ECO until the flowering phase.