low light to high light conversion

[Lauren]

I have a little 10g that has a horrible hood. I'd like to take advantage of wanting to replace that worthless hood and make this tank into a high light, heavily planted "show" tank. Where should I go to get the parts to do this conversion?

thanks

 

[TKOS]

Do a google search for AH Supply. It is the company that most people seem to rave about.

 

[Lauren]

Thanks. What do you think would be a good watt to go with for a 10G?

 

[NGerdes]

I read on here before (I can't remember who said it), that because a 10g is smaller, a 25W should be enough, but 30W would be better.

 

[djlen]

Lauren - www.ahsupply.com is one of the best sites around for retro-fitting/upgrading lighting systems.
A 2x13 bright kit would give you enough light over your 10 to grow just about anything you want.
There is a number on the site that I suggest you call and tell Kim exactly what you intend to retro-fit and he will help you and answer all your questions. I have been very pleased with this company in my dealings with them.
Keep in mind that going that bright will dramatically alter your tank's needs and will require much more work. CF lighting is very efficient and will give you probably more like 35-40 watts over your tank.

Len

 

[Lauren]

djlen: could you please explain to me how the maintanance of my tank will change? Also, if I'm reading this correctly, the 2x13 bright kit doesn't come with an enclosure. So what would I do then?

 

[djlen]

I thought, by the original post on this thread, that you have hood on the tank now, but are dissatisfied with the quality of the lighting it is giving you.
That's why I mentioned AH. They sell kits that are made to upgrade the hood that you already have by replacing the fixture that is in yours and installing theirs.
What kind of hood/enclosure do you have?

When you increase the lighting of the tank significantly, most aspects of the tank are magnified as well. Everything happens faster.
Plants grow faster, but so does algae. In order to control the algae you have to increase the amount of plants, and get them growing well with fertilization and a carbon source. It becomes more of a challenge to maintain a balance of nutrients/light/plants along with fish. The more light, the bigger the challenge. This is the extra work I was referring to.
Basically, I was giving you a heads up on what to expect with an increase in wattage.

Len

 

[Lauren]

I hate the hood I have now. It's all one unit, and the opening is too small to use to clean the tank, you have to turn the light off, wait for it to cool down, remove the hood, vacuum the gravel, return the hood. It was just poorly made. So I figured while I got a new hood that I should replace the lighting as well. Thanks for the heads up, on keeping the tank up too.

 

[djlen]

I retro-fit a 55gal. that came with two 15watt hoods which is the standard set up when you buy it with that tank(believe it or not).

Anyway, I took the 'guts'(2x15) out of the hoods and placed them on my 10 gal. tank and they are growing plants beautifully for me.
The point is that you don't have to go high tech to get decent results. These are just plain old NO fluorescent tubes.....19" long that are sitting on a glass top that I cut to fit the 10 gal. tank.
I'm sure you can buy a nice canopy with tubes enclosed locally(LFS) and set it on a glass top over your tank and get good results.
Orrrrrrrr, you can buy a 2x13 bright kit from AH and build a box to put them in and place that unit on a glass top.
Their 2x13 CF bulbs are much brighter than my 30watts of NO that now sits on my 10.
The reason for the heads up is that this forum is littered with nice people who jumped into high lighting, expecting great growth and few problems. They got the growth(in most cases) but also inherited the extra work involved in maintaining an algae free(for the most part) tank.
30 watts NO over a ten is not super high......2x13 CF is starting to get there........IMHO.

Len

 

[Lauren]

I'm going to go to the lfs today and see what I can find in the world of hoods for the 10g. I'll see if I can find something worthwhile. If not, I may have to diy this guy. I'm fine with having to scrub down the walls of my tank for algae. Maybe if it gets a little intense I'll pick up some ottos to help out.