flouescent light for live plants

[fballguy]

I was looking at the different flourescent tubes at the LFS the other day, I need a new one that puts out more light because the tube that came with the tank won't cut it for live plants. All they have is Hagen bulbs, so which one is the best for live plants?

 

[kcooley]

i use the $6 home depot aquarium flourescents. they grow my plants like mad

 

[fballguy]

Oh yea I didn't think of that. That is much cheaper than the $10-$20 for 1 at the LFS.

 

[Ms.Bubbles]

Most aquarium fluorescent tubes will say on the box whether they're suitable for live plants or not. They're usually described as full spectrum. If they're suitable for plants, then the only real considerations are:

1) Wattage. You need at least 1-2 watts per gallon to grow live plants well
2). "K" rating--this is the colour of the light. It does little to affect plant growth, but does affect the look of your tank. 6500K tubes look a bit yellow, while 10,000K tubes are pure white light.

Technically you can grow aquarium plants with ANY type of fluorescent light, even if it's not full-spectrum. Some people even use shop lights over their tanks and grow plants just fine.

 

[fballguy]

Well my light is 15 watts on a 20 gallon tank, so that puts me a bit under 1 wpg. Plants grow just not very well. So I will be getting a new bulb in the next few days. Thanks for the help!

 

[webcricket]

Just be sure the new bulb's wattage doesn't exceed what is recommended for your light fixture. There is normally a sticker on the back that tells you what the maximum is...I know on the hoods that came with my 20 gallon tanks, the maximum watt bulb they can take are a 15 or 17 watt. I need to upgrade my light fixture if I ever want to do live plants in those tanks.

 

[Hound]

I think the real issue here is having a single bulb flourescent fixture on your aquarium. If it were me I'd look into a 2x13 deluxe kit from ahsupply and building a diy enclosure for it. The reflectors they supply are much better than what you find on a lot of other lights. You can also get a 2 bulb flourescent fixture for that aquarium or look into buying a small cf fixture. Just changing your bulb isn't going to make your aquarium much brighter, but you can at least get a better spectrum.

 

[epicfish]

For a 20 gallon tank, I'd go for at least 36 watts for a decent low-light setup. For higher, you could try a 36 watt and 1x13 watt for ~2.5 WPG for a moderate to high light setup.

The screw-in fluorescent bulbs are good if you're on a very tight budget. They give pinpoint light, not an even spread throughout your tank, so you might find that some of your plants will grow towards the light, not straight up.

 

[coupedefleur]

I've also seen screw-in cf bulbs at a home store that are tube-shaped just like the incandescent ones. They seem to spread the light better. With the spiral bulbs- if you can set up a fixture where the bulbs are on the ends pointing at the center they light the tank up pretty well.

 

[skiboarder72]

yes you are going to want to ad at least another light on top of there, co2 wouldn't hurt either and its easy and cheap to do