Two Questions

Where are you?

 

I dont think it was ment to be personel. In this hobby you get what you pay for. I am sure all of us on here at one time or another went cheap on something and it cost us more in the long run. If I was you I would go to the HD or Lowes and look in their bulb section. something like this Philips 75 Watt BR30 Agro Plant Light Bulb - 249052 at The Home Depot

 

Here is this one also. you would have to find a fixture for it

Philips 20 Watt 2Ft. T12 Plant and Aquarium Linear Fluorescent Light Bulb - 392274 at The Home Depot

 

So many conflicting opinions. I have been told that my 18 W plant light is fine for my 30 gallon because it has 5000 K. It says W/gallon is really not used as a measure anymore. My plants are growing well under these conditions. I keep my light on for 12 hours per day

 

hey ocean. have you checked jlaquatics? over 100 is free shipping. not sure if they have what you need tho. ive found their prices are quite good.

 

It wasn't personal, alot of people try to cheap out on the lighting in the beginning(even me),but with out enough lighting things just don't grow.

 

wpg isn't really used that much anymore on newer lightings but par and lumens are and its hard to tell what those numbers are unless you have a meter. So I still go by watts, I can tell you even on newer lights 1/3 the recommended isn't enough. I'm guessing the bulb is either power compact or t12 those aren't that new tech.

also the same thing can be said about Kelvin(the k in 5000k) kelvin is a value of the color light given off. That color is achieved by mixing wavelengths but different wavelengths of light can be combined to make the same color, so kelvin is also pretty useless.

I'm guessing the only thing that will grow well in that tank is java fern or java moss.