flurex flood light and "bright kits" ???????

[laundrybag]

i found a link to THIS light in THIS thread
i thought WOW i gotta go buy me 4 of these instead of a 600 watt HPS
that was until i found this

I am certainly open to the idea that I could be wrong but so far I haven't
seen anything that would change my opinion. I have heard many complaints
about those fixtures over the past few years. If I actually had one of those
light fixtures I would not be able to easily test it myself without a lot of
work. That sort of data should be supplied by the fixture manufacturer and
the lamp manufacturer. The fact that they don't provide it is rather
telling.

It is a certainty though that a 65 watt fluorescent lamp does not produce
8000 lumens. It is also certain that no fluorescent lamp is more efficient
than HPS as LOA claims. LOA has been around for quite a while. IMO they
consistantly make very low cost and poor light fixtures and exagerated and
misleading claims about their products. I am not really inclined to cut
them a lot of slack. I do own a couple of their shoplights which, after
throwing out the existing primitive ballast and putting in a good one, I
like very much. Good paint finish, nice and compact and light but what they
say about their own products I take with a grain of salt.

and this

To my surprise this bulb is rated at 65000K color temp and
> 8000+ lumens. I then found the same light being marketed on
> eBay as a 500W hydroponics grow light with a "bargain"
> starting bid of $45 and $14 shipping!! I've also seen others
> sell it for $75+!! (Just search for Fluorex on eBay)
>
> So has anyone tried these over a tank yet? The fixture is
> small enough to probably light up a 10gallon tank with 65W!!
> You can probably hang it from the ceiling too for open tanks.
> I think for $30 I'll just pick one up next time I'm there and
> find a use for it at home. They had one on display and it is
> very bright! The price is great if indeed they can be used
> for planted tanks.

I was excited, a while back, when I first heard of these. Unfortunately,
reality intruded when I went to look at them.

They would probably provide less light than a couple of AH Supply 13W
kits, at several times the electricity cost and mucho extra tank heating.

The reflector is just diffuse white, and they use multiple "U" tubes
arranged in a very inefficient pattern. Restrike will be very high, and
most of the light will never get into your tank, unfortunately.

Twisty tubes and triple or quad "U" tubes are really poor for tank
efficiency, when compared to the AH Supply designs using single tubes with well-designed efficient mirror reflectors.

those quotes i found at an aquarium forum

when i saw this "AH Supply 13W kits" in the second quote i googled it
and found THIS page they have 13, 36, 55, and 96 watt versions
the links are on the left side of their page
i'm kinda liking the 96 watters!
heres a quote about a picture they have of one
"[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]The photo above shows a 1 x 96w Bright Kit and a 96w bulb installed in the shell of a 36" twin-tube light strip. (Don't be fooled by the reflector. There's only one bulb in there."

my problem is if i were to try one/some of these - what bulb would i get?
i'm confused about what color range to get
i attached a pic that i stole from cyberquest's thread here - i left a thanks there for ya
i saw some color ranges mentioned alot but NOT the 5000k
if plants need the blue and red i would think 5000k would be the best

am i missing something about the color temp ratings???

anyone know anything about the fluorexflood lights from my very first link in this post?

whats yer thoughts about the "bright kits"

thanks

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[laundrybag]

no one has an opinion on this