I have a Marineland Biowheel tank that came in a kit, and the light is a 20watt light. The only plants I have are java moss, java fern, and floating hornwort. The hornwort does look a little ragged, and has shed a lot of leaves. I keep the light on about 14 hours a day. Isn't that lighting ridiculously low? Shouldn't I have 2 watts per gallon? The directions that came with the light say not to use more than a 20 watt bulb; a T8 or T12. Does this mean I need to buy a whole new light/hood? Or is there another sort of bulb that I can buy?
The only way you can increase the light brightness is to add additional bulbs of the same type, (adding another strip fixture) or by using a higher wattage bulb, (but in order to use a higher wattage bulb, you would have to have a fixture, ballast, designed to work with it. )So it sounds like you already know the answers to your questions.
PC, is that just a different kind of "bulb"? Or a whole new hood w/light? Sorry, I don't know the correct terminology. And are the lower "T" numbers actually better?
And the hood is 30", the bulb is 23/24".
Editing to say I am looking at Aquariumguys.com for bulbs, and my head is swimming! I do not have the slightest clue which would be best as far as watts/colors go. Please, can someone give me some advice? What is a reflector? What is "K"? My tank has male guppies, an angelfish, an opaline gourami, neons, and a bn pleco. What would make their colors stand out, and be good for my low-light plants as well?
Thank you!!
Would something like this work better than what I have? (not sure why this is underlined, sorry....)
PC=Power Compact, essentially its two tubes built together. Puts out decent light, its better than T8 and CFL but also a bit more costly, replacements will run you about $15-$25 a pop.
And a 24" T12 tube over a 29g tank. Changing bulbs won't help you much, in your case you need more light, which means retrofitting something.
I agree, you'll either have to retrofit or buy a new fixture all together if you want to upgrade. You fixture now will only put out 20w regardless of the bulb...The lighting you have now is probably enough to keep certain plants alive (cryptocorynes, java fern, anubias, etc.) but you won't see much growth.
