Lighting for 29 gallon?

[SnowHeart]

I've been told you should generally have two watts of lighting per gallon in your aquarium (particularly if I want to plant it), yet all the hoods I can find for 29/30 gallon aquariums allow only 20 watt fixtures. Can someone help me clarify what kind of lighting I should be using and, if I should have 60 watts of lighting, how I can arrange that?

Thanks!

 

[tomm10]

You can get about 65 watts with a compact flourescent adaptor kit. It will retrofit right into your exsiting hood. I bought one online and can't for the life of me remember the name of the retailer. I'm sure somone here will remind me.

T

 

[SnowHeart]

I found a few sites that offer these kits, but prices seem to range from $40 to $150. Seems like quite the range. Are all kits created equal? What should I expect to spend?

THANKS! :hi:

 

[tomm10]

I remembered the site. www.ahsupply.com They were recommended overwhelmingly to me by folks here. I have the 55 watt kit in my 29g. It fit right into the existing light canopy and works great. I think it was about $40 plus another $15 or $20 for the bulb.

 

[SnowHeart]

Thanks Tomm10! Much appreciated. I'll check them out.

Would you say the extra light has made a difference?

 

[jec0995]

I have a 29 gallon and had the same problem. A company called Jebo makes fixtures for a 29 gallon tank (not specifically, but they will fit on an all glass hood). It came with 2 65W compact flur. bulbs. They only cost about $65 or so. It gives you alot of light though...130 watts or 4.1 per gallon. You can grow just about anything in there.

I found these fixtures on ebay and bought them new. I've had it for 2 yrs now and never changed the bulbs....they still grow plants well. good luck

Jimmy

 

[SnowHeart]

Very interesting. Not sure what I'm going to do. The lights from Jebo look great, though, and would save me the time of putting it together myself.

By "all glass" hood, I'm assuming you mean the company "All-Glass"?

 

[Captain Hook]

Are you planning on having live plants? If not, don't bother upgrading the lighting. It will just give you algae problems without a good plant load.

 

[SnowHeart]

If I do the light upgrade, yes, I would be planting. If I decide not to plant, I wouldn't do the upgrade.

 

[TKOS]

If you are handy you can build your own canopy. That is what I did with my 29. I was going to buy a balast kit but ended up using a bathroom vanity lighting system (4 screw in bulbs). I use daylight corrected screw in flourescent lights that gives me 92 watts of light. My plants love it. But the AH Supply kits are very good as well.