184 watts? CFL'S? enough?

R

raggierags

AC Members
Jul 27, 2009
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soo i got 184 watts of CFL's and they are pusshing like 22000lumes (65k)

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photo1.jpg


the tank is a 30 tall is this enough to sustain life for plants?
and should i change the 65k bulbs to 5000k or anything?
 
I'm kinda new to lighting for planted tanks, but I think you have way more than enough.

184 Watts / 30 Gallons = 6.13 W/G

Usually 3-4 W/G is considered good for plants that require high light.

That looks sweet and a pretty good idea.
 
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Those CFLs are not the best lights, there is a lot of light lost to restrike from the coiled shape but I think you have enough on there to make up the difference. Might get a bit hot, but that should work well. Nice work on the build too, I love seeing DIYs.
 
only problem i see is there pointing down, you will loose about 1/2 the light spectrum this way. it will be more like 90 watts over the tank.

these lights work GREAT i have the 6500k daylight bulbs only several tanks now.
i have a 29g with 3- 26 watt and 3- 15 watts now and i can grow about any plant there is medium and some high light grow great. .

it really would be better to have the bulbs flat so you could have some type of reflector to but try it like it is and see how it goes!
you will have a algae tank without co2 and daily ferts.

i also notice the bulbs in the pic are 5000k to not the 6500k daylight bulbs most people use so little less light there to but maybe not a big deal, im sure they are alot cheaper than the other bulbs to.

heres a pic of my ghetto 29g hood inside.



hood.jpg


and heres a pic of the tank with these crappy lights to prove they work fine

tanksa.jpg
 
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You're definitely going to need some sort of fert/co2 plan. I like the Estimative Index fertilization method, but there are several different proven plans. Also, not sure if its too late, but maybe you could find a way to wire your light fixture so that some of the bulbs can be switched off for part of the day. That will help a great deal in prevention of algae.

customdrum said:
i also notice the bulbs in the pic are 5000k to not the 6500k daylight bulbs most people use so little less light there to but maybe not a big deal, im sure they are alot cheaper than the other bulbs to.
Click to expand...

The color of the bulbs won't matter, except that the tank will be more on the yellow side of the spectrum.

Keep us posted on how the tank turns out!

Mike
 
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