What is the proper lighting for a freshwater fish tank with plants?

I have a 37 gal freshwater aquarium just some regular ol community fish nothing special and recently bought some live plants. The guy at the store said we needed to get a new light and suggest the "marine glo" light he said that that was the best light we could get. Now our tank is completely blue. We bought the "yellow" light (Sun Glo) for our smaller tank and it just looks like a regular light. The Blue one we got for the tank says it is for salt water reef tanks. Should we take it back and get something else. I really dont want to have to have a blue light in my tank just for my plants.. Suggestions?

2 flourecent lights

According to my husband that light is bad for your tank (we have a very large tank here and is his) You need to get a light that is for freshwater plants and fish. That blue one will not work. He suggest taking it back and instead of the shop keeper helping you ( sounds like he didnt know what he was saying) read the back of the package, they normally outline what type of tank it is for.

sounds like what you got was an actinic lightbulb, or something in that category made for a saltwater reef tank. All you need is a simple flourescent bulb that fits inside the hood of your tank, and you need to keep it on pretty much 8 to 14 hours a day for the plants to be able to use photosynthesis and grow. For your smaller tank, you have a bulb made for a reptile, which will get really warm. It has vitamins in it, that reptiles need from the UV rays, but i'm not sure that it does anything for the plants. You simply need healthy water, a good CO2 supply (which comes naturally if you have enough fish), and 8-14 hours of lighting a day.

Sound like you have an eclipse system 3. You should get 2 auqua glo 20 watts each for you plants.If your plants requires more wattage. then you should retrofit it. Check out www.aquaticexchange.com