help with lighting

[steeledarren]

hi my 55 gal came with in the hood lighting it has two 14w t5 bulbs one white and one pinky red, what is the difference, well i was wanting to upgrade the bulbs, wanting something a bit brighter, could i get a higher wattage to fit the light unit, starting to branch out into plants, thanks for reading, any advice would be appreciated

 

[fort384]

unfortunately, florescent bulbs are not like incandescent bulbs in that you can get different wattage bulbs that fit the same fixture. Your fixture will only hold/light a T5 14W bulb.

28W over a 55gal tank unfortunately isn't going to grow much of anything. You want to get to at least around 1 watt per gallon (WPG) to grow low light plants.

The best lights for growing plants in my opinion are T5HO. For a 55gal tank, you would want to look for a 2X54W 48" T5HO fixture. This would be a kick butt fixture that would allow you to grow a lot of different species of FW plants, but not be so much that CO2 injection and heavy fertilizing become necessary (although some fertilizer addition at this level will most likely be required).

If you don't want to go that advanced or drop the dough for it (it can get expensive), you need to find a non t5 lighting solution that gets you to at least 50 watts or so.

The big factor for plant growth is color temperature. You want bulbs that have a color temperature of 6500K-10000K. My guess is you currently have 1 10000K light and 1 6500 or 6700K light. Probably the right color temp, but unfortunately just not powerful enough to grow much of anything in that size tank.

 

[steeledarren]

so with the lighting i have could i keep plants such as ancharis java fern, and moss balls, thanks

 

[fort384]

You could try. I am not sure whether or not you would be successful. You are right on the edge if not below what I would consider the minimum light threshold to grow even low light plants.

My advice, if you aren't looking to make any kind of investment at the moment, would be to buy a few plants and give it a couple months, see what happens. Just stick with the plants you listed... maybe some crypts, or anubias... java moss.. but that is about it. I wouldn't go spend more than about $10 on plants for now, until you see if it works, unless you plan on upgrading the fixture should it not work out.

 

[BigJim]

If you plant the java fern on driftwood so it's closer to the light, you should be ok. The white bulb is probably a 6500K type bulb and the pink bulb is probably a ColorMax type bulb. I have plants growing under this combination of 18W T5 bulbs in a 20H. My low-light plants grow well, but the med-light plants grow slowly.

If you're serious about growing plants, I'd upgrade. Even a 2-bulb 48" shop light would do better than your current lights. I have American Fluorescent fixtures in my garage and I'm impressed with them. If I had a 4ft tank, I'd be at Menards buying another shop light. It uses two 32W T8 bulbs and has decent reflectors. Figure about $40 for the fixture and a couple bulbs.

 

[steeledarren]

Thanks for the advice. I forgot to mention my tank is 24 inches cube. What light fitting would be best. What about led also

 

[BigJim]

The 24" depth is a challenge here. You're be best off with T5HO lighting if you want off-the-shelf lighting. If you have a lot of extra cash or you're willing to do some serious DIY, good LEDs penetrate water better than T5HO.

I'm building an LED fixture for a 20H which is 24"L x 12"W x 12D". I figure I've got $80 - $100 invested not including the tools I bought to build it. It should be about 30W across 10 LEDs. I'm hoping it'll make the tank able to support some high-light plants. A similar fixture should support low-light plants in your tank, maybe even medium-light plants.

 

[steeledarren]

Thank-you. How much would u advise paying for a t5ho

 

[BigJim]

You're probably looking at ~$100 for a two-bulb 24" T5HO fixture.

 

[steeledarren]

That's not bad. Any particular make to go for

 

[BigJim]

I've heard good things about NovaExtreme and AquaGlo fixtures.

 

[steeledarren]

Thank-you. What is the difference between flourescent and ho

 

[BigJim]

T5HO puts out more light per bulb. The HO is high output. A 48" T5 bulb is ~28W versus a 48" T5HO bulb at 54W. You can't run T5HO bulbs in a T5 fixture. The ballast isn't up to the task.

 

[fort384]

I've heard good things about NovaExtreme and AquaGlo fixtures.

Agreed. I have a couple of Current USA Nova Extreme fixtures, and have been very happy with both. There aren't too many out there though that won't work... so long as it is UL listed it should be safe. The big difference are the reflectors... that what makes or breaks these T5HO fixtures. If they aren't individually reflected high polished metal, than you lose the advantages that T5HO has over other florescent fixtures, like standard T8s.