Aquarium Lighting

[Glick325]

Hi,
I have a non-planted 55 gallon freshwater aquarium and was wondering what type of light bulb would be the best to get the colors of my whole tank to pop. I bought my tank with a bulb in it off a friend and now it is starting to die and i need to replace it. Also what the price range would be for the bulb. I am sorry if I am doing this wrong, i am new to forums. I appreciate any help that can be given to me.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[OldMan47]

I have no idea about costs where you live, it really varies a lot, but I favor a tube with a 5500K spectrum temperature. It is close to a noonday daylight spectrum. If you prefer a yellower spectrum, try a 3000K tube. If you prefer a bluish spectrum, try a 10,000K spectrum tube. Color spectrum in a fluorescent tube is really a personal thing but I like mine to closely reflect the noon sun type spectrum. Something else to consider is the CRI, color rendering, rating. It is a number from 1 to 100 where a 100 rating is perfect color rendering compared to natural light. A CRI rating over 90 is quite hard to find but is well worth searching for.