29G light that won't break the bank

[abcdefghi]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a light to go over a 29G (30") that is good for growing plants (ideally 2WPG) and is not going to cost a fortune? I am having a hard time finding anything that gets me much over 1WPG.

Not to mention the sheer number of lights, websites etc, hoping someone has some recommendations on a place to buy from and a light.

Thanks.

 

[austinpetemo]

depends on whether or not you want to do DIY

 

[odinthejd]

Yeah I agree DIY or do you wanna spend a bunch on a nice well known light that will last for a long time. I am not saying DIY don't last a long time but you may not know for how long it will last and most likely no warranty.

 

[FISHSHROD]

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19759

 

[Ozymandias]

well thay don't have the exact length for a 29 gallon, but Fishneedit.com has some good T5 fixtures that aren't super expensive.

 

[irishspy]

I've been very happy with Coralife fixtures: http://is.gd/5CRyG :idea:

 

[THE V]

CFL's will work very well. You could put three 23W bulbs over the tank and grow just about anything that you want. Of course you will need to do a little DIY.

I slapped together some for my tanks in the garage and it took me about 1 hour and cost $20. Of course I didn't care what they looked like so I just used some plywood I had and painted the inside white.

There's a lot of different directions of how to do them online. Generally as long as you remember black connects to black, white to white, and copper to copper or green you should be good.

 

[foolishfish]

Bought the pieces from a local florescent lighting wholesaler to retrofit some old hoods with HO T-5's. Worked well, but then I got lazy and started buying the 2' T-5 fixtures from my wife's Big Lots store ($8 a piece with her 20% off). Their small enough that I can stuff (2) in an old Penn hood and they daisy chain together so you only have one plug for the both of them.

Also bought some single strip T-5's from Ken's Fish pretty cheap. They had better color temp. lamps and came with polished aluminum reflectors that made very efficient retorfits.

If you want to build a short canopy to mount them in, and if you've got an all glass lid on your tank, you could easily mount (4) of the 2' T-5 strips above your tank. Even using the cheap Big Lots lights that would work out to (4) X 14w. = 56w. Just about 2w. / gal. My 72 is working w/ 3w./gal. and I can grow algae faster than you can say spit. Grows plenty of other stuff too...