Light

[madcurlyq]

what lights best for plants and is cheap?

 

[daileene]

hi,

you can look in the information about lighting in the link below:

A beginner's guide to lighting

it will tell you what is your best choice...

 

[madcurlyq]

also what is the best canister filter?

 

[daileene]

if you do choose the daylight CFL bulbs, they have a GE daylight CFL bulb in walmart with 6700k that is sufficient for a low light setup and it is only $7

 

[daileene]

i do not know anything about canisters, am sorry. others might pitch in.

 

[madcurlyq]

Ok thank you, just for the heck of it what kind of filter do you use?

 

[madcurlyq]

What do you think of this light?

http://www.amazon.com/Solarmaxhe2-D...s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1325002032&sr=1-19

 

[BBradbury]

Lighting Question

what lights best for plants and is cheap?

Hello mad...

I use GE 6500 K, T8 or T12 Aquarium Plant bulbs in my planted tanks. The bulb is available at most hardware stores and will cost $10.00 or a little more depending on the size. If you keep to the plants that require low to moderate light, these will work well and last about a year.

B

 

[daileene]

Ok thank you, just for the heck of it what kind of filter do you use?

I have 6 tanks so I have different filters for them.

In my 4.4G flatback hex, i only have the small world pennplax sponge internal filter. In my 5G, I got the kit from walmart and it came in with 5-15G Aquatech Power Filter. I have the same filter in my planted 10G tank. My other 10G that is coldwater has the 10i whisper internal filter. The other 10G planted tank has an aqueon quietflow 10 power filter. then in my 20G long, I have the Aquaclear 50.

 

[daileene]

and that lighting from amazon will work but that will definitely gives you high lighting. so you can basically get most if not all kinds of plants you like. the thing is, you have to dose CO2 with it if you do not want algae all over your tank. or some of the members here use T5HO lighting and they dose the Seachem Excel for the CO2 and as far as I know, it was working for them. They didn't have to setup all the equipments for dosing the CO2 regiment.

Bbradbury has the same bulb I was talking about that can be found in walmart. I got the GE 6500k T8 daylight CFL on most of my planted tanks (2 X 10G, 1 x 5G, 1 x 4.4G, i am still waiting for funds for my 20G long tank - for now I have a light with clamp temporarily right now) and I can tell you that all my low to medium light plants I have thrive in those bulbs. And they are cheap.

 

[madcurlyq]

Ok i glad to hear that 'cause I'm getting a co2 system with it.

 

[daileene]

then that lighting is best for you then.

 

[madcurlyq]

Thamk You! hey! do you know where i could get dainty cories (not pygmy)

 

[mfdrookie516]

The light you linked is a T5NO fixture, which isn't going to be a ton of light.

 

[madcurlyq]

It isn't,Why not?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Because it's a T5NO fixture with 28w bulbs.

 

[jetajockey]

A simple answer to the original question of what light is best for plants and cheap, I'd say sunlight.

But for a non-sunlight application I'd go with t5ho's just because they are plenty for whatever, but it'd really depend on the tank size (height), as CFL's are a more efficient option on small tanks.

 

[madcurlyq]

its a 30 gal and i guess (now) its unfortunate i got that lighting system

 

[jetajockey]

what is the height of the tank? Isn't a 48" long fixture going to be too long?

T5NO's are fine for most low/low-medium applications, I just like t5ho's better since they have a lot more output and give more options for going high tech later.

 

[mfdrookie516]

its a 30 gal and i guess (now) its unfortunate i got that lighting system

I didn't say they were worthless... I said they wont put out a ton of light. That's not necessarily a bad thing unless you're wanting to grow HC carpet on a 24" deep tank.