planted tank

28 posts • Page 2 of 3

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

Yea I would say your hairgrass is going to slowly die. Water plants are pretty hardy and im not suprised to see them live a couple months with lower light than they need but over time it will show. They will have slow growth if any, and will turn brown and die off. Thats the problem I face in my 30 gallon. I need more wattage. I currently only have a 20 watt bulb. I plan on making a DIY second bulb fitting though sometime in the near future. I recently bought a 2.77 gallon tank and put a red ludwigia and some kind of whispy tall plant in there i forget the name, and I use my halogen desk lamp for that tank. It is 20 watt's, so they have like 7.22 watts per gallon rofl, maybe a bit much. They should grow nicely though. For small tanks I find that desk lamps are sooo much cheaper. I don't know if it's a trade secret a scam or what but you can buy desk lamps for half the price or less than a normal aquarium light. Whats the deal with that? You might as well buy desk lamps and take them apart and make your own fixtures outa them. You get the bulb, the wiring, the switch, and the housing for around $8-30 per lamp depending on size and wattage. I could easily jerry rig those up for maximum tank coverage at a fraction of the price. Think that's what I'll do from now on.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

I've done a lot of DIY lighting.

Don't use high intensity point source light unless they're aquarium lights because they can burn the fish's eyes. Done it, and they healed thank god.

The 40 watt flourescents are really good with the "plant" bulbs and for a 60 gallon I do great with 4, 4 foot long, 40 watt each bulbs you can buy at any hardware store.

But no micro-grass.


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

hmmm, i might have that high intensity point source bulb... i dunno how can you tell for sure? It also is about 8 inches above the top of the tank if that helps any i dont know?


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

Oh and it has a UV filter glass on it.
Last edited by jweb1369 on Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.


Mike0372983
 
Posts: 267
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:59 pm

by Mike0372983

lol no more hairgrass then... guese I will try to get around 90 WPG. And more plants, mainly background plants.


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

I got hallogens and a halide "flood" type light and I think the hallogen or halide burned the eyes of my gars. If it's UV filtered it might be OK. I'd ask Gumbii about that.

Any flourescent should be OK though. I used to use cool white mixed with a warmer redder flourescent for a while, and then just bought tubes that said "plant bulb". I bought a fixture with 4 bulbs and put blue tape over the sides of the fixture so light didn't come out of the fixture sideways and only went down into the tank.


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

how much was that and where did you get it from?


Mike0372983
 
Posts: 267
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:59 pm

by Mike0372983

lol umm I was looking at this coralife light and it is 65 watts, and its 24" long, and my tank is 30, will the mounting legs fit it? and I saw something that clipped to the back of the tank and attached to my coralife light...


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

I bought the four foot long 4 bulb fixture from OSH hardware store for like $20 or something, maybe less. I also have a 2 foot long double fixture with the regular 40 watt flourescent bulbs for my 10 gallon tank.


Mike0372983
 
Posts: 267
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:59 pm

by Mike0372983

would the fixture from the hardware store have to hang from the celing... because I change where the tank is sometimes, and I would rather spend 100$ on something that will still make my plants grow, but not hang from the celing... just my opinion. But thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

O ya one last question, when it says 50/50 does that mean there are two 65 watt bulbs?

planted tank

28 posts • Page 2 of 3

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