Finally, I'm upgrading lighting! My last questionever!... maybe.

[BagelDog]

I have a twenty gallon tall tank that I'm upgrading to a planted tank. I'm currently looking into a Coralife 65watt compact fluorescent light. This will give me a bit over 3watts per gallon. I've heard that if you exceed 3watts per gallon you should look into a CO2 setup. True?

Here's the dilemma, what to buy.
I have never purchased a CO2 unit before and want to get into a nice one that has features according to the size of my tank. Money is an issue so best bang for the buck while maintaining quality and ease of use would be great.

 

[timwag2001]

milwaukee is a pretty common setup
http://www.eseasongear.com/sms122ma957.html

 

[coach_z]

milwaukee is good. water-testers.com always has the best price.

but why dont you find a lower wattage light and avoid co2 if money is an object?

 

[BagelDog]

I don't think that Coralife offers a lower wattage version of the 24" freshwater light. I guess I'm leaning toward buying the coralife because a LFS carries it. I try to keep as much of my money in their shop as possible. I've said it before, Fish stores are few and far between in Montana. Without local support they go away and my hobby hurts because of it.

Do you know of another company that offers a 40watt 24" light hood?

 

[bushwhacker]

you can always buy the fixture and remove one of the bulbs.. my planted tanks grow fine with around 1.5 wpg... nothing spectacular but still good

 

[Star_Rider]

look for an online source for your light.
I suspect the Coralife is a PCL. a single bulb 65 w
how about ?


http://www.fishneedit.com/t5ho-ligh.html

or

http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/index.php?cPath=71_76&osCsid=8837c6cf810cd7d86cb2a9f830e64848

look at the catalina
in a comparison the catalina 65w actually did not appear to be as bright as the comparable satelite model.
but I have them on my 29's with good results.

 

[DoctaQ]

t5s could be something to look into

 

[BagelDog]

Star_Rider is correct. The Coralife is a single bulb setup. No can do.

I'm looking at the Fish Need It 24" fixture.
When it says: "2 x24w bulbs" I'm assuming that I could remove one of those bulbs to give me a 1.2 watts per gallon. Would I be pushing it to run both bulbs at 2.4 watts per gallon with no CO2?

I know that watts per gallon is a rough estimate and not set in stone. Are there any factors that would allow me to fudge the watts per gallon rule when choosing lighting? (Density of plants, height of tank, etc.) Just a reminder, I'm putting this lighting on a 20 gallon tall.

 

[Riiz]

I like the T5HO setups better, because of the flexibility in wattage. And since the bulbs are linear, the light is better utilized with reflectors and again, you can use the second bulb as a midday burst when a CO2 system is present.

 

[BagelDog]

How do you mean, "flexibility"?