Right now on my 55 gallon I have totally ghetto lighting, I have 8 20 watt (100 watt equivalent) spiral fluorescent lightbulbs mounted on the inside of my hood for a total of 160 watts of lighting. these bulbs work great with only 2 on my 20g long and grow fairly high light plants such as Pearlweed and curly Val.
But in my big tank I am getting a lot of algae and not so great plant growth even with the higher amount of wattage and added Co2 and ferts.
In my smallest tank, an 8 gallon I have two 18 watt tubular flourescent lights, one of them is a Glo brand powerglo with a brighter white light, the other is a Glo brand Aquaglo with a more pinky purple light both from petsmart. That gives me 36 watts on an 8 gallon tank and everything grows just perfectly, even really high light carpet plants and red leafed plants are going crazy with no co2. I also really like the look of the combination of these two bulbs, it shows off all the different colors of leaves and fish (guppies) really well.
I would like to use my existing tank cover which I made myself but that means standard four foot lights wont fit as the hood is 49 inches wide and that doesnt leave room for the extra length on the sides of most fixtures.
I'd like to keep it under $300 if at all possible but I'd also like to not have to replace the hood as I made it myself and am rather proud of it
. There is plexiglass between the water and the lights so splashes aren't a big concern.
I was looking at this website as it has good prices on their fixtures but I cant seem to find lengths for them.
http://www.warehouse-lighting.com/category/12/1/T5HO-High-Bay-Fluorescent-Lights.aspx
But in my big tank I am getting a lot of algae and not so great plant growth even with the higher amount of wattage and added Co2 and ferts.
In my smallest tank, an 8 gallon I have two 18 watt tubular flourescent lights, one of them is a Glo brand powerglo with a brighter white light, the other is a Glo brand Aquaglo with a more pinky purple light both from petsmart. That gives me 36 watts on an 8 gallon tank and everything grows just perfectly, even really high light carpet plants and red leafed plants are going crazy with no co2. I also really like the look of the combination of these two bulbs, it shows off all the different colors of leaves and fish (guppies) really well.
I would like to use my existing tank cover which I made myself but that means standard four foot lights wont fit as the hood is 49 inches wide and that doesnt leave room for the extra length on the sides of most fixtures.
I'd like to keep it under $300 if at all possible but I'd also like to not have to replace the hood as I made it myself and am rather proud of it
. There is plexiglass between the water and the lights so splashes aren't a big concern. I was looking at this website as it has good prices on their fixtures but I cant seem to find lengths for them.
http://www.warehouse-lighting.com/category/12/1/T5HO-High-Bay-Fluorescent-Lights.aspx
