Lighting question

T

Tastey

AC Members
May 29, 2009
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I have a 20g high and a regular 10g.
Both can hold 18" bulbs.
I have access to Walmart, Lowes, Petco, and a lfs.

I want to get the best lighting I can in these tanks without modifing the hoods.

My question... what exactly am I looking for? The more information I get the more I get confused. I just need a straight forward answer. I'm feeling dumb today. lol
 
If you are growing plants then you should get a bulb that is about 6700k.

Also how many watts is the hood rated for?
 
If its a 18" bulb its 15watts. Which is the best you are going to get, if you do not want to modify the hood. A popular modification is installing regular light sockets in the hood and installing a pair of 23watt Spiral CFLs, easy mod and cheap.
 
the one on the 20g high says 19watts and the other one doesn't have a sticker anywhere
 
Straight answer...Without modding...get an F15T8 Daylight (6500-6700K)tube @ Lowe's. Don't bother with an expensive "aquarium" light. An 18" tube is typically 15 watts. (a few are 17W but it's not much difference)

I grow najas grass, anacharis, and hornwort in a 10G with a 18" tube OK. Anubias, java moss and java fern will work too.

That light is a bit anemic to grow much of anything in a 20H though. I managed to keep najas grass and java moss alive in a 20H with that light but "only just". If you have the not-so-common 2-tube 20H light, then you are in much better shape.

I would consider modding at least the 20 hood to use 2 screw-in cfls. I have another 20 high with 2 23W daylight CFLs; it'll grow any low-light and some med-light plants. It's full of red crypts and spiral val right now.
 
Last edited:
Tastey said:
the one on the 20g high says 19watts and the other one doesn't have a sticker anywhere
Click to expand...

Thats power consumption, the bulb uses 15watts, and the ballast wastes another 4watts, powering the bulb.
 
I'll probably give into the modding... maybe not today though... Kids will be up from their nap soon. lol
 
ok, scratch that, I'm gonna do it. Will I need anything else other than the bulbs and the doublesided outlet thingy?
 
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