I ended up getting a aquaclear 70 filter. I am trying to find out some info for the Marineland 55g starter kit my local petsmart sells. I want to know what the max wattage is for the hoods. I found out earlier that the topfin hoods can only take max 19 watts.
Filtration/Powerhead question
- Thread starter Plague
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GoldLenny
Senior Member? Do I get a 5% disc.?
Also check your local WalMart for their 55G starter kit. I'm pretty sure it's a Marineland kit, at least their filters are Marineland filters but without the Bio-Wheel. I haven't priced them lately but they use to be very good deals for an entire set up. They sold 10G kits, 29G kits and 55G kits from what I remember.
Those kinds of light kits are pretty standardized and will only take a certain type of bulb, meaning only a certain wattage tube will work. Your usual only options are the Kelvin rating and Lumen rating which you will want to the K rating around 5000-6500 and you want the most lumens you can get by comparing the various bulbs that will fit in the tank that are available to you. WalMart SuperCenters usually have a nice selection.
Those kinds of light kits are pretty standardized and will only take a certain type of bulb, meaning only a certain wattage tube will work. Your usual only options are the Kelvin rating and Lumen rating which you will want to the K rating around 5000-6500 and you want the most lumens you can get by comparing the various bulbs that will fit in the tank that are available to you. WalMart SuperCenters usually have a nice selection.
I'm only worried about the wattage because I want my tank to look really white and not yellow like the incandescent 2700k. Right now I have a trichromatic T5 5500k bulb on my 10g but it still is not white enough. Anything under 19watts will only take T8's... I'm going for looks here =P getting the right spectrum is easy as is.
GoldLenny
Senior Member? Do I get a 5% disc.?
God.. now I remember why I started going to Yahoo Groups more for my fishkeeping forums. I just typed a LONG reply and when I clicked the Post button, the dang website bogged down and I lost my reply. I wish ALL forums allowed email posting of replies. I'm re-typing most of my reply below and copying it before I click the Post button this time. LOL
Wattage is NOT the thing to compare when comparing lighting. Wattage is the amount of electricity a bulb uses. For example, a 60W incandescent bulb uses the same electricity as a 60W fluorescent tube and obviously the 60W fluorescent puts out a LOT more light. A 60W CFL puts out more light than a fluorescent tube. 60W of LED puts out more light than any of the above... but LED lighting is still pretty expensive. Most of the aquarium kits will have standard fluorescent tubes with some of the 10G kits actually having room for two incandescent tubes (which can be easily upgraded to CFL lighting screw in tubes to get a LOT more bang for the buck).
Kelvin is the color spectrum of the lighting with a soft white incandescent bulb being down in the 2500K range and then the bulbs would get much *brighter* as the K rating goes up until the K rating gets too high and gets into the blue/ultraviolet ranges that are used on many SW Reef tanks to make the corals and fish pop in color... but if you are going to have live plants, then you would want to stay in the 5,000K to 8,000K range, with 6500K being the best as far as a general purpose aquarium bulb.
Lumens is how *bright* a bulb is as far as visible light to the human eye although the K rating also plays a big factor in our perception of the bulb.
That said, for the kind of white you are probably looking for a Daylight or Sunlight type bulb but don't just rely on those names. LOOK at the details on the bulbs.
I've seen same sized, watt and Kelvin bulbs where one would only have 1250 lumens and the other would have 3250 lumens, meaning it would be 2-3 times brighter... sometimes for only a little more money and even less on occasion, depending on the brand, sale prices, etc.
Wattage is NOT the thing to compare when comparing lighting. Wattage is the amount of electricity a bulb uses. For example, a 60W incandescent bulb uses the same electricity as a 60W fluorescent tube and obviously the 60W fluorescent puts out a LOT more light. A 60W CFL puts out more light than a fluorescent tube. 60W of LED puts out more light than any of the above... but LED lighting is still pretty expensive. Most of the aquarium kits will have standard fluorescent tubes with some of the 10G kits actually having room for two incandescent tubes (which can be easily upgraded to CFL lighting screw in tubes to get a LOT more bang for the buck).
Kelvin is the color spectrum of the lighting with a soft white incandescent bulb being down in the 2500K range and then the bulbs would get much *brighter* as the K rating goes up until the K rating gets too high and gets into the blue/ultraviolet ranges that are used on many SW Reef tanks to make the corals and fish pop in color... but if you are going to have live plants, then you would want to stay in the 5,000K to 8,000K range, with 6500K being the best as far as a general purpose aquarium bulb.
Lumens is how *bright* a bulb is as far as visible light to the human eye although the K rating also plays a big factor in our perception of the bulb.
That said, for the kind of white you are probably looking for a Daylight or Sunlight type bulb but don't just rely on those names. LOOK at the details on the bulbs.
I've seen same sized, watt and Kelvin bulbs where one would only have 1250 lumens and the other would have 3250 lumens, meaning it would be 2-3 times brighter... sometimes for only a little more money and even less on occasion, depending on the brand, sale prices, etc.
Having multiple 4' tanks, I run 2 filters on each of them. I stay with one brand so I can swap easily among tanks. I also have at least 2 of the same filters as backups. Whatever filter you choose, you will want to make sure the tank will be ok for a day or two on a single filter. Doing this is the best safety net you can come up with. By having only 1 type/brand of filter I can take what I need from a broken or dead one and have it replaced immediately. Just something to think on.
These are things I did over time and not from the jump. Since you are on a limited budget, try to plan for future expenses. Don't try to do it all at once unless you are flush with some money.
With the addition of plants, waste removal will be much better than no plants. The type of plants you select will have a bearing on water quality. Some do their uptake through the roots while others uptake straight from the water column. I had a severely over-stocked tank but my plant selection kept water parameters at 0,0,0. They sucked up all the nutrients they could and as a result I could get away with a water change once every 6 weeks.(I still did weekly maintenance but knew that if something went wrong they would be ok as long as water circulated).
These are things I did over time and not from the jump. Since you are on a limited budget, try to plan for future expenses. Don't try to do it all at once unless you are flush with some money.
With the addition of plants, waste removal will be much better than no plants. The type of plants you select will have a bearing on water quality. Some do their uptake through the roots while others uptake straight from the water column. I had a severely over-stocked tank but my plant selection kept water parameters at 0,0,0. They sucked up all the nutrients they could and as a result I could get away with a water change once every 6 weeks.(I still did weekly maintenance but knew that if something went wrong they would be ok as long as water circulated).
10000K is going to look whiter than 6500/6700K and is perfectly fine for growing plants as well.
GoldLenny
Senior Member? Do I get a 5% disc.?
10,000K aren't as readily available at WalMart, etc.... and therefore cost a LOT more than the 5,000K to 6,500K... more particularly, the 6,500K range.
And, once again, it's the lumens, not the color range that makes for a BRIGHT bulb as far as the human eye perceives light.. although we can also tell the difference in color between a 2,500K and a 5,000K bulb or bulbs with various coatings on them that might change the *color* of the bulb.
I'm not talking about brightness, I am talking about the color. As the OP said "I want my tank to look really white and not yellow like the incandescent 2700k."
jpappy has it right I'm going for color =P I'm aware about lumens but I feel I'd have more options with 24 watt since I can choose between T5 and T5 HO's. I don't know if T8's will produce the same brightness, since that is the type of bulbs I'd be getting at 15watts.
CWO4GUNNER
USN/USCG 1974-2004 Weps
I think for you, the price/size capacity of this filter would be the way to go and should provide enough outflow to compensate for any power-head.
http://cgi.ebay.com/100-G-AQUARIUM-...ILTRATION-/190369055852?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0
http://cgi.ebay.com/100-G-AQUARIUM-...ILTRATION-/190369055852?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0
