View Full Version : Lighting up small tanks
I recently got some plants and divvied them up between my 10g and 5g aquariums. It has only been a couple days since I got the plants but Im already thinking about increasing my light so the plants will really flourish. The 10g is a standard 18" fluorescent strip light now, the 5g is a eclipse system with whatever bulb those come with (cant find any info)
What would be some good options without spending much money. I dont want to waste a lot mroe money on these when I am trying to get a larger tank soon. DIY stuff is definately do-able as well.
Thanks
Shawna
07-18-2005, 9:55 PM
How about one of those bendy lamps that you can clip onto things?? Clip it on your stand or table. Two of those would only put you out $20 - $30 bux. Im still newbyish lol, so im not sure if you need special light bulbs or not,,,,
I have a desk lamp right next to my 10 gallon, one of those 2 bulb style left on/right on/both on/all off deals. One of the bulbs is actually one of the fluorescent screw in tubes and i tried putting it right next to the tank but it really doesnt throw off any extra light..
Ive looked at the AHsupply stuff, that might be doable for me other than the fact they say it will not work on a standard hood and well, i recently bought this hood so i would hate to put it in storage and buy another :)
Things like overdriving a bulb i would like to look into as well, but i havent seen much information dedicated to 18" bulbs. Maybe someone here has some experience and can get me started in some way.
I try not to make my posts too sketchy, but I really want it to be clear Im not tied down to any one idea yet and looking for all the feedback I can get before I go throwing money around. Learned the hard way that doing it the other way leads to trouble.
wow, either i am in the wrong subsection or nobody here wants to help someone?
reignman40
07-21-2005, 5:27 PM
I think the most cost effective DIY way for smaller tanks is www.ahsupply.com. I recently purchased the 55w kit for my 20 gall tank. They have pretty affordable kits for smaller wattage as well. Despite what they might say, I retro fitted my 55w kit directly into my basic 20 gall hood. It fight right in there, I simply unscrewed the 18" flourescent setup which left me with an open hood and then fitted the kit right in there. From all my research ahsupply was the cheapest way for affordable DIY lighting. They give great instructions with their kits as well. IMO anyone could install it in their hood as long as it was long enough.
Hope that helps,
Curtis
PS: 20 gall hood was 24" and the 55w kit was 22". Just so you have an idea of how close in length it was and still fit just fine.
I noted that they mentioned the bulbs getting hotter due to the standard, plastic hood and going into thermal protection. They stated that vented end pieces would be included...I know my room gets pretty warm during the day (florida heat, computer emitting even more and no a/c when the house is empty) so would it be something i should really worry about? What about mounting a small computer fan or something
The sides of my light strip appear to be solid and 1 piece with the rest of it, is that to be expected?
reignman40
07-21-2005, 7:04 PM
My house has AC and I haven't had an issue with heat yet. I didn't even install the vents on the side of mine. I run my light for 10 hours a day on a timer. Never seen it shut off on me yet at a time other then specified.
For 10 gallons they have a nice kit that is specifically designed to retro fit into current hoods. Otherwise I would just install the vents, if you feel the need you could just modify the hood for more ventilation as well. Or if it becomes a problem if you have space, you could just invest in a small fan for the inside of the hood. But I haven't had an issue yet installing in the standard plantic hood. I did mount my ballist on top and not inside the hood, so that's not adding to any heat on the inside.
Wish I could be more help, but with AC always on in my home I doubt it would ever be an issue. But they also have wonderful instructions for a DIY hood that would cost less than $10 in material if you're worried about it.
Curtis
appreciate the response im looking at both the 2x13 kit (10gallon) and a 1x13 kit for my 5g,
did yours come with/did you use one of those fancy MIRO4 reflectors or just a standard white plastic reflector ive seen in most basic hoods
which light color did you go with and were you satisfied?
reignman40
07-21-2005, 9:32 PM
those are both excellent choices. I did order the reflector with mine. It is quite reflective indeed. I would recommend getting the kit with the reflector if you have the extra money to do so.
I went with the 5500 full spectrum bulb and am very happy with that. I heard from others that all of the full spectrum are the same as far as plants are concerned but the higher numbers are brighter on the eyes.
Curtis
I noticed they also have a 36w strip that they said will fit on a 10 gallon, so now im not sure which way to go on this one. Also with the 5g being an eclipse im thinking i would have a hard time modifying that hood to put another ligth in there and somehow protect it from water damage.
reignman40
07-21-2005, 10:14 PM
26w should be fine for your 10 gall. If it's not that much diff though 36 would be better for those medium-high light plants.
Not sure on the 5 gall hood. My 5 gall hood is just a basic hood with incadescent lighting right now. But it still has that piece of glass under the light to protect it.
would/should the great majority of plants do well with the 26w setup? I dont want nor do i need to give the plants so much light they are going to grow like crazy, i would be trimming leaves constantly to keep some fish viewing areas in my tank.
reignman40
07-22-2005, 5:10 PM
26w should be perfectly fine. Are you also running any CO2?
jimmyyahoo
07-23-2005, 4:37 AM
I added 92 watts to my aquarium by building a small rectangular box that fit on top of the tank and then wired a bunch of those standard socket CFLs together in parallel. The box was getting hot so i added a small computer fan plugged into a DC/ac converter. Found that the plants did best when i used the (5600K?) daylight bulbs, the color was also better. Ill explain more in detail if anyone is interested.
Well Friday night i noticed a fairly large, leaking crack in my 5 gallon (so much for the strength of acrylic). Suddenly, everyone I knew who wanted to sell their (larger) aquariums had changed their minds. I bought an empty 10g tank and fitted it with extra stuff from mine, including an incadescent hood with 2 screw in fluorescent. Supposed to be 30w, so i think im just going to leave things as they currently are, keeping medium light plants there and low light in the original tank with 15w fluorescent tube for now, at least.
I was experimenting with diy co2 on the 10, but i will most likely eliminate that or move it to the fresh setup. I might just go to flourish excel to save some trouble. Ive heard good things about it