# fluorescent lighting options?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fluorescent-lighting-options/716255
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 29, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fluorescent-lighting-options/716255 "2015-03-29T02:36:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fluorescent-lighting-options/716255/1 "2015-03-29T02:36:51Z")
So I’m opening a plant gallery. We want to use fluorescent lights for plant health, but we don’t want a traditional, institutional look. I know I’ve seen, like, paired sockets, where you can jam each end of a fluorescent tube into a socket, to start it up without an actual fixture. I remember seeing them in my aquarium-designing days. but I can’t seem to find them now. Anyone with stronger google fu than mine?
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fluorescent-lighting-options/716255/2 "2015-03-29T22:10:47Z")
By “plant gallery”, do you mean a retail outlet, or some sort of exhibition space?
Are there sources of natural light (windows, greenhouse)?
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fluorescent-lighting-options/716255/3 "2015-03-30T00:54:40Z")
I don’t see how you can do it without a fixture of some kind; fluorescent lamps need a ballast of some sort.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2015, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fluorescent-lighting-options/716255/4 "2015-03-30T12:57:09Z")
I believe I have seen these, IIRC the light tube itself was inside a clear outer tube of some kind so the ends were not really free, but attached to the tube.