tank light

[kuzco77]

I was wondering if i am able to find a good light bulb for my tank at some place like lowes?  I got a replacement bulb for my fixture at menards but the color  is  just blah. Does not look as good as before imo.  What should I look for in a good bulb for my tank?

[Regalblue]

Daylight bulbs

[Stan M.]

x2

[Ron]

You'll find the same kind of thing at Lowes as you did at Menards or any other big-box store.

What you need to look at is what color are your fish and what is the color spectrum of the light? Objects of a certain color look that way because they reflect light in that spectrum. Blue fish reflect blue light. Red fish reflect red light. Green plants reflect green light. Depending on what color your fish are, look for a bulb that accents their colors.

Daylight bulbs IME tend to make greens, yellows, and oranges POP! Blue fish tend to look really poor under them.

I've used and am still using some cheap big box bulbs. They are on tanks in the fishroom where I need to see the fish, but it's not a display setup. The best bulbs I've ever used were Coralife 50/50 bulbs ... won't find those at a big box store, but they are worth the price.

I've recently also tried some LED lighting. Have some floodlights with 5500k spectrum IIRC and the clown loaches and orange/yellow fish look awesome, but the blues are poor. I also tried some that are a combination of bright white and blue - blue fish look nice, but the others aren't as nice. Mixed them together and it's alright ... still debating if the increased electricity consumption would be worth going back to T8 coralife bulbs. 

[mightieskeeper]

Check grow shops or lighting stores for bulbs, 6500k rating is a nice white color.

[kuzco77]

Not exactly sure what i have in it now off the top of my head but seems like my algae growth has went up.

[Ron]

Maybe better algae growth is just the result of a bulb putting out more light? Over time the lights get dimmer. For just seeing the fish, it's not as big of a deal, but for plants you would periodically replace older bulbs with new ones.

I was looking for more algae growth in my mbuna tank, so I tossed a spare 48" bulb in the fixture. It didn't look as bright as the other one, so I took a stroll through the lighting section at HD. I picked up a "plant and aquarium" bulb for the mbuna tank. I'm hoping the algae growth increases. It gave the tank a little bit more purplish look, but I think it's alright.

I also saw "Daylight Deluxe" bulbs, which had a 6500k rating, so I picked a couple of those up as well, but I haven't had a chance to try them out yet. I did find the spectrum online and it looked decent, so we'll see shortly if it helps bring out blues a bit more.

[kodyboy]

6500K will grow plants well but it is still not that blue, more yellow/white. I like the look of 6500K on most freshwater fish. Natural sunlight is around 6500K.  10000K will give you both good blue and good plant growth, but the bulbs tend to cost more as they are not made for general use.   
For no plants I like low wattage LEDS.   They are more than enough to illuminate the tank to see the fish and they don't promote massive algae grow.  Higher wattage LEDS are great for plants/corals and definitely grow algae. I like dimmable leds with different banks of light so that I can tweak the color output to my liking. 
http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-lighting/current-satellite-plus-freshwater-led-48-60-inch.html
These come with a remote to adjust the color spectrum, give cloud effects etc. They also will not grow massive amounts of algae.  Low light plants can work with these. 
http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-lighting/current-satellite-freshwater-led-48-60-inch.html
these are nice (and cheaper) than the above and have both 6500K leds and blue leds
http://www.aquatraders.com/product-p/56591.htm
these things will grow just about anything and can be dimmed to lower the output I have one on a 50 gallon and it illuminates it well at about 20% or so.
none of these are high end leds a great option for those is http://www.buildmyled.com/