I've slowly slipped into every fish tank you could do, african cichlids, south american cichlids, saltwater reef and fowlr, i've done a pond and recently i'm starting a planted tank. what is the least expensive light that i can buy that will supliment my plants with the lighting i need? i know that all plants are different but what is something that can generally take care of the all. I've been told that 2 or 3 watts per gallon is what i need. (30 gallon tank, so between 60 and 90 watts?!?!)The gentleman at the LFS said that i would need a 10,000k bulb. would a T5 retro fit kit work? is there a plant power compact? HELP!!!!
planted tank lighting question
- Thread starter enjoi_madness
- Start date
Any type of light bulb can work.. you just need to get the right colour temp(6000K-10000K) and enough wattage. I recommend the T5s for a better spread of light as compared to PL compacts. However its up to your budget, T5s are relatively more expensive than PL compacts. Also for T5s, get individual reflectors for each light bulb so that you get maximum efficiency.
I'm not affiliated with these guys in any way, but I just bought a kit from these guys for my planted tank and I am very pleased with their prices, shipping, and quality. I did 26W for my 10G refugium and it looks great. I'm not sure how to attach images here, sorry.
I picked up some florecent lights today for really cheap, got a 24" dual t5 flourecent for 20 bucks and a 48" triple flourecent for 25 bucks. 
The guy wanted to get rid of them, i threw a mix of bulbs in there and let's see what happens in the upcoming days.
The guy wanted to get rid of them, i threw a mix of bulbs in there and let's see what happens in the upcoming days.