My first planted tank - no idea where to start with lighting?

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Spudnik

Registered Member
May 30, 2006
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Hi guys,

Not so long ago I bought a second hand Jewel tank as I wanted to try keeping tropical fish, and grew impatient waiting to find a pond for the goldfish so that I could use the 40 gallon! I then decided that I wanted the tank to be planted, and would really like to have it quite heavily planted. My problem is that, as an old Jewel, the tank came with a hood that takes 2x 24" T8 bulbs - giving me only 36 W for a 25 gallon tank. I've now find that this won't be even nearly adequate - so what do you guys suggest? I'm on a bit of a budget, so would prefer a relatively affordable solution... if one exists!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. As you can tell, whilst I've kept fish for a number of years, I'm fairly new to the world of aquatic plants. :)
 

Sploke

resident boozehound
Staff member
Oct 20, 2005
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AHSupply.com has nice retrofit kits, if you're mechanically inclined. Rip out the guts of the existing hood and rebuild it with CF lights. Stock look, improved lighting.
 

Spudnik

Registered Member
May 30, 2006
2
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Thanks guys,

AHSupply look great. Unfortunately I'm in the UK so I can't order anything from them! Would it be difficult to use the 'power compact light bulbs'? How would I fix them in?

On a related note, does anyone with a jewel tank know how to attach a drip tray to them? They're made without anything obvious to balance them on as apparently they aren't needed with standard jewel lighting, but I'd imagine that I'd need one if I was opting for something else.
 
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