What Is The Best Light

[krucialkey560]

For a 29 gallon hood????a 24 inch light?that would be the best for a planted tank.Holla?

[GulfCstAquarian]

I'd try to decide between a moderate light / moderate growth tank and high light. For moderate light, you could grow quite a few plants with a single 65watt 24" Power Compact bulb. With 2.2wpg, there would be only a few plants out of your reach.

Or go with a pair of 55 watt bulbs and go with 3.8wpg. Nothing out of your reach with proper fertlizer and CO2, and you could even grow a low-lying foreground like Glosso, which would be pretty tough with only 2.2wpg.

[rich]

hey kruc did you have any luck finding anything? im having the same prob finding a cost efficient bulb for my 29 gal. i looked at the power compact stuff and although its really nice its also 125$ for a hood and a single 65w bulb. isnt there any 2 pin high watt bulbs that would do the trick? or am i going to have to shell out 100+ dollars just to light a fairly small tank. currently ive got a single 24" GE plant and aquarium bulb and i dont think its doing the trick. the 15-20w dont really reach to the bottom of the tank enough and even my hornworts are looking a little angry at the bottom. strange enough my little crypts are holding fast. any advice would be great here i need to get the lighting fixed quick i think or the plants are going down.

[Matak]

You can get standard screw-in base Compact Flourescent bulbs that are in the plant growth spectrum at some building supply stores (Can. Home Depots don't carry them, Rona's do) They are only about $25 Cdn up here. The bulbs are 26 Watts. Real bright.

You can also get 4000K bulbs of the same type in different wattages if you look around.

[DIYMatt]

How are you at DIY wiring? If you can do a little basic wiring, you could try two of these bulbs:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=65&subcat=442&cat=42+Watt+Bulb+Equals+150+Watt+Incandescent

That would give you 2.9 wpg, and 6500K. Good initensity and spectrum for most plants.

They are 42 watt CF that screw into regular incandesent sockets. You should be able to retrofit these into your existing light hood. You should be able to take the existing fixture out of the plastic hood. Then pick up a double lamp socket at a HD type store(like $5) and drill a hole in the back of the plastic hood to hold it, wire up a cord, screw in the bulbs and you should be ready to go. Even better would be putting some type reflector that can be as simple as tin foil double stick taped to the inside of the hood. the only thing I see with these types of bulbs is that you have most of thel ight focused on one area. That should be OK because you can put lower light plants on the sides of the tank and higher light plants below the bulbs.

Total cost should be about $40. Pretty good for 84 watts of full spectrum light.

[superjohnny]

He didn't ask for the cheapest light setup, most common or the most cost effective solution... he asked for the best. With a 175w metal halide light nothing is out of reach.

IMO that's "the best."

[DIYMatt]

Good point Superjohnny! I agree a MH would be the best lighting solution as far as efficency and spectrum, allowing the widest range of possibilities. Its what I use on my two remaining plant display tanks.

I guess I was replying as much to the replies as I was to the original post. My bad, sorry.