How to add more lites?

[LiveMermaid07]

Hi!

My main tank came from a 29g kit from walmart. I am currently using the lid and 20watt flourescent bulb from the kit. I know that I definitley need more light for my plants (some of t hem anyway). So my question is this:

How do I add more lights?
Are there special (or shall we say realistic) hoods out there somewhere, and i'm just not finding them?

Help!
Please!
Thank you!
:)

[JakeJ]

Try looking up Coralife Aqualight fixtures.

Nice sig. by the way!

[jeninok]

You can also get hoods from walmart made to hold incadescent bulbs then use screw in compact flourescents, if you put two of the 20 or 23 watt bulbs in it it would really up your lighting.

I have also found a couple fixtures in the reptile section of petsmart, one of them has a big square compact flourescent and the other is made to hold 3 screw in type bulbs.

I like www.petmountain.com for lighting and bulbs, it is where I get the pricey UVB bulbs for our lizard and turtle

[tyler79durdan]

CF lighting or incandescent's are really a low light for growing anything, but for aesthetics, flouro tubes are great and can be had in t8 with 6500k daylights. I would go this route before CF(compact florescent)IMO

-Aaron

[pjrichar]

refit you existing strip lights for cfls... there are step by step threads on here ,, i dont buy lights any more i just do this... went from 50 watts on a 55 to 130 for under 30 bucks ,,,6500k 900 lumens per bulb... use the 15 watt bulbs the have higher lumens

[dundadundun]

t8 does not compare to cfl at all. most cfl's are around t3 at this point... much more light. you just have to spread it out...

you can buy a hood or a fixture or go the diy route.
here's a good diy for cfl... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147012

for just a fixture you can go one of several routes...
www.fishneedit.com
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+16770&pcatid=16770
www.catalinaaquarium.com
www.ahsupply.com
www.championlighting.com

for cfl... if you choose to go that route some people have had good success with N:vision brand daylight bulbs. i like and recommend ge daylight cfl's. i've had better growth and less algae consistently with the ge 6500k bulbs.

[Slappy*McFish]

I'm guessing Tyler is referring to the screw-in spiral CFLs?

[dundadundun]

i too was referring to screw in cfls. i have a tank growing like weeds under them. 2 t8 bulbs wasn't cutting it so i dropped the wattage by about 5-10 watts, raised the fixtures up about 18" and went with 2 cfl's. plants are happy with it now and so am i.

the tank is now supporting java moss, ambulia, riccardia chamedryfolia, hm, young red tiger lotus, pothos, some lucky bamboo i need to get some light near the top of and hopefully soon some emergent lace java fern. the java moss is already successfully emerging also.

with t8 bulbs i was having a hard time floating anacharis...
short t8 bulbs suck ime. 4 footers are much better quality imo. the dimming that occurs at either end of the bulb makes it hard to get good even coverage also.

i add 1/32 tsp of both kh2po4 and plantex weekly and ammend my gh to ~5 during w/c's... that's it. very simple tank in comparison to most.