# T8 shop in the planted tank



## jarrod989 (Oct 16, 2011)

so looking at making a diy canopy with some old shop lights lying around in my dads shop im thinking of just throwing them in a wooden box that i will place on my 55 gallon planted, however ive come to problems with bulbs, they all range from 3200k to 4500k and wondering if these bulbs will grow plants? im planning on growing high ligh plants like dwarf sag and star grass and i know if not high enough kelvins, they will grow tall and laggy


----------



## neven (May 15, 2010)

the colour temperature alone is not enough to figure out if its suitable, what matters is where the bulb peaks at in its spectrum. Having the actual bulb part number would help a ton. I will say that you should forget the 3200ks though, from an aestetics point of view. You will need 4 shop lights to be able to grow low light plants, for medium light plants, you will need to inject co2 to make up for the weak lighting. Your plants you listed aren't really high light, they should do fine with 4 shop lights + co2. I would recommend painting the inside of your wooden hood with a waterproof very glossy white paint, it will also help you get the most from your lighting.

I came to my conclusions using your tank height and assuming you will have the lights atleast 3 inches above the water line.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

They'll grow plants fine, but your tank will look quite yellow and unnatural.


----------

