Lighting question on 55g

aquarob

aquarob

I give up!
Jan 1, 2006
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Hey guys, got a question. My tank came with 2 light fixtures. Flourescent. The bulbs that fit them are 18inches long. The ONLY bulbs I can find for an 18inch fixture are only 15w. 15w x 2 = 30w total. in a 55g tank. Thats nowhere near 2 watts per gallon which would be 110 watts.

Does this mean I have to buy all new light fixtures if I ever want live plants? Seems odd, but the lights I have now are very bright, and do a great job at lighting my tank. (I replaced the factory bulbs with some 18000k range color boosting bulbs) If they were any brighter, i would think it would stress the heck out of my fish not to mention heat up my water.

Im confused. Any help out there?
 
I think you are out of luck.

I have only seen 15 watt bulbs in the 18" length.

Unless you can retrofit those fixtures for power compact bulbs (I doubt it), it sounds like it is time to buy new fixtures.
 
I have the same setup with a 55G. I went to Aquarium Hobbyist Supply online and ordered 2 retrofit kits. I now have 110W of light on my 55 and an algae outbreak (starting to balance out)!!! I want to say it cost around $100 and my husband did the work in under an hour with a minimum of swearing. I think the fish were a big freaked out at first with the bright light but they adjusted in a few days. It's much cheaper than a new light and looks great.

Occasionally you can find 20W plant bulbs but that will not give you much more light. If you want more light, the retrofit is the way to go (IMO).


Jackie
 
so that retrofit wasnt that bad?

did you just get the 2x55w or did you buy 2 1x55w? that site is a little confusing with those kits (unless im just dumb)
 
I will add that that 2W/gal of fluorescent lighting doesn't even begin to approach the intensity of sunlight. It's probably difficult to approximate sunlight with even the high intensity discharge bulbs. The fish will adjust.

Also, the human eye doesn't respond to light in a linear fashion. I'm sure the higher wattage will seem brighter to you, but you will probably find that that it is not as much brighter as you thought it might be.
 
You need to buy the 2X 55W kits. One for each fixture. It's not a dumb question, I had the same one. I emailed the company to make sure and got a response within hours. The order came 3-4 days after I ordered it.

The retrofit was relatively painless after the first few cuss words!! At first my husband thought it was a bit confusing but it ended up being pretty easy. You basically have to drill a few holes in the hood, assemble some wires, and fit everything together. I probably couldn't have done it myself just because I am power tool challenged but if you can drill a hole and follow directions you will be alright.

Now my challenge is to keep the algae in check--after a month I think it's beginning to come around. If I were to do it again, I would probably change the substrate at the same time--I didn't because we plan a move in 6-8 months and the tank will come down and come back to life as a paludarium for my newts. Then I hope to get a 125, or in my dreams a 200+ gallon.

Good luck!

Jackie
 
Thanks for replying...

Thank you to all who replied. I was afraid of that. Wife wont want to do that for awhile so, no live plants for me. =(
 
Well, you could still use some low light plants like java fern or java moss. They'd probably do OK in that kind of lighting. Although I may be incorrect on this...
 
Before I upgraded, I grew java moss like crazy on some driftwood. I was also able to grow red melon sword, java fern attached to driftwood, and some anachris. So don't give up!!! I also grew water sprite but my fish ate it.

Jackie
 
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