they look blue/purple. so would anyone like to recommend a specific flourescent bulb i could buy that would give me the most lumens output and that would fit a regular aquarium hood fixture? how do i tell what size i need?
You can measure the diametre and the length of the bulb to find out whether you need T5 or T8 bulbs and the wattage.
A bulb diametre of 5/8" (16mm) = T5
A bulb diametre of 8/8" = 1" (25mm) = T8
Wattage depends on bulb length for each system.
Replacement bulbs must always have the same electrical specification and wattage as the inital bulbs used for the same fixture.
If you want to change the wattage, you not only would have to replace the bulbs, but the whole fixture (fixture with ballast and bulbs).
New bulbs have higher lumen than old bulbs that already have been used for 10,000 hours.
T8 bulbs with conventional ballast fixtures will lose more lumens over the usage time than T5 bulbs with electronical ballasts during the same time of usage.
For a given fixture you only can decide for the color temperature of the bulbs, the wattage is fixed for every fixture.
For growing plants most growers use fluorescent bulbs with a color temperature of 4000K or 6500K or a mix of both. Bulbs used for sea water aquariums have sometimes much higher color temperatures like 8000K or 10,000K, but they are no good for growing plants, so you better do not use any bulbs with a color temperature above 6500K. If the manufacturer uses a three-digit numbering system for his bulbs (some do so), you can identify suitable bulbs for plant growing by the three-digit color number, i.e. 840 (=4000K) or 865 (=6500K).
> i wired it myself so it might look a little rough.
Any clip-on reflectors installed? Using high quality cliip-on reflectors with fluorescent bulbs can easily double the lighting intensity under the lamps by grabbing the light from the upper half-plane of the bulb and directing it downwards.