20 gal High lighting

[Mcran4]

I have a 20 gal high with a couple of live plants. For lighting im running the basic florescent setup that came with the tank, aquarium model 24RFH. would it be best to switch out the bulb to encourage plant growth or spend the 80-100 dollars to by a new fixtures?

 

[fort384]

Depends on the type of plants you are growing/hope to grow, and also depends on the type of bulb. Most likely swapping the bulb won't make a huge difference unless it is outputting the wrong color temp (or spectrum). Fluorescent lights are a standard wattage (strength) for a given fixture. However, it is most likely a 24" T8 bulb, which would be sufficient for some low light plants.

If you can look on the bulb itself and post any information you can see on the bulb, we can give you some more solid and less generalized advice.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

An adaptable fixture would be a 24" incandescent light strip that uses 2 screw in bulbs. You could put 10-13 watt CFL daylights for low to medium light plants or up to 26 watt CFLs for higher light plants. I ran my 20 high with a fixture like that for years. It's a very cheap but bright way to grow lots of plants. I switched to T5s but didn't really like them so I now use eBay LED daylight floodlights and they're very good. The 10 watt models cost $14 shipped and are plenty strong for anything that you can grow without CO2.

 

[Mcran4]

Depends on the type of plants you are growing/hope to grow, and also depends on the type of bulb. Most likely swapping the bulb won't make a huge difference unless it is outputting the wrong color temp (or spectrum). Fluorescent lights are a standard wattage (strength) for a given fixture. However, it is most likely a 24" T8 bulb, which would be sufficient for some low light plants.

If you can look on the bulb itself and post any information you can see on the bulb, we can give you some more solid and less generalized advice.

It holds 1 18" T8 bulb. It's not clear on how much wattage but I think it is a 15 watt bulb.

 

[Mcran4]

An adaptable fixture would be a 24" incandescent light strip that uses 2 screw in bulbs. You could put 10-13 watt CFL daylights for low to medium light plants or up to 26 watt CFLs for higher light plants. I ran my 20 high with a fixture like that for years. It's a very cheap but bright way to grow lots of plants. I switched to T5s but didn't really like them so I now use eBay LED daylight floodlights and they're very good. The 10 watt models cost $14 shipped and are plenty strong for anything that you can grow without CO2.

What did you not like about the T5s... If I buy a fixture I was thinking about going that route.

 

[fort384]

T5HOs are good lights, but it would be pretty intense lighting for a 20 gal tank ime.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

T5HOs are good lights, but it would be pretty intense lighting for a 20 gal tank ime.

I agree. A T5NO fixture would work but even that may require co2. My one 20W and one 10W LED setup is actually brighter than the two T5s I was using before. Both need lots of co2 and careful tank and fert maintenance to control algae and it's still a bit of a battle. Lower lighting is far simpler to start out with.