Coralife 10,000k???

Okay someone please do me a big favor. Go to Big Als and browse through the flourescent bulbs and tell me which ones to get. The need to be 18inch and have the pins on each end. It is for a 55g that I am just trying out with plants. If I like it i'll upgrade the lighting down the road. But for now what would be my best choice?
 
I think you are missing what people are saying.
Changing your bulbs would mostly be for your preferance in colors not to benifit your plants.

What you need is a new light strip that either uses 48" strips or get a PC stip light.

Btw nice to see someone else from NS. I'm from kentville
 
Boohoo
The lights you asked about in the first place would be fine given the fixtures you have in the first place. You might want to use the 6500K bulbs, or one of each. It won't make much difference. You will still end up with low light.

You will be able to grow most of the low light plants. Your hygro should be okay. Java fern, anubias and crypts would be fine. Some others you may be able to grow if you place them directly under the lights. Maybe a sword plant, maybe some alternanthera 'sessilis'.

I have one 16 inch 30W 10,000K light on a 30g tank I am growing all of these.
 
Boohoo said:
Okay someone please do me a big favor. Go to Big Als and browse through the flourescent bulbs and tell me which ones to get. The need to be 18inch and have the pins on each end. It is for a 55g that I am just trying out with plants. If I like it i'll upgrade the lighting down the road. But for now what would be my best choice?
Click to expand...

The bulbs will contain the same amount of wattage, but different K, or spectrum. What you are concerned about is the wattage, or the amount of light. To get more light, you'll have to get a new hood fixture from www.bigalsonline.com or www.hellolights.com

Find one that is the right length for your 55 gallon. It depends on how long your tank is to know which fixture to buy.
 
ergo sum said:
I have one 16 inch 30W 10,000K light on a 30g tank I am growing all of these.
Click to expand...

That's roughly twice the light Boohoo has on their tank. Success at 1 wpg with a Compact Fluorescent isn't neccessarily success at .54 wpg with Normal Output lights in a deeper tank.

Boohoo, your fixtures are what's dictating your light levels. If you replace two 18" 15w NO bulbs with two 18" 15w NO bulbs the amount of light is going to be roughly the same. It'll be a tad brighter for the first few weeks until the bulbs burn in and then it'll be about the same as you have now. You can tinker with the color but not so much the output.

What you have now is very low for plants. I think its too low, but opinions tend to vary.

You can add a cheap fixture from a Lowe's type store if you're just experimenting on a budget. You can get a Coralife type or a retrofit kit from AH Supply if you think your going to get into planted for the long haul.

If it were me I'd go with the AH Supply. But thats just me.
 
What you could do is scrap the hood you have totally. Get glass tops (they are not too pricey for your 55g) About 20 to 30 dollars maybe.

Go to walmart and buy 2 x 48 inch long flourescent fixtures. (I bought one for $16.00 Canadian a couple weeks ago) Buy longer chains (the chains they come with are too short) at home depot (5 or 6 dollars) Also, at home depot, pick up 4 x 48 watt bulbs, in the warm color range. (warm bulbs) or sylvania gro-lux which are a bit more expensive. Maybe use 2 gro-lux and 2 warm bulbs.

You suspend both the fixtures over your aquarium, what I did was add a little shade to the sides of the fixture using shelve liner or 'mac-tac' paper (comes in alot of designs) which hang over the edge of the light fixture to give more shade and less glare. Works gr8. Then you have 40 x 4 = 160 watt over your aquarium which is about 2.9 watt per gallon. Enough for a decent planted tank for less than 70 dollars.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom