Converting lighting for a 20Long to a 55

[joannde]

I'm getting ready to equip the 2 20gallon tanks I found in the attic. The "grand plan" is to later upgrade both of these tanks to 55's (shhhhhh ...... its a secret .... haven't shared this plan with my husband yet ! LOL).

To try and keep the costs of the conversion lower I thought I would purchase the equipment needed for 55Gs now and use them on the 20s. One of the tanks will have shelldwellers from Lake Tang, the other will have SA cichlids (rams and angelfish).

I was thinking of getting two internal filters rated for 55G tanks with flow controls so that I could adjust them down.

For the heaters I figured I'd just buy a second heater for each tank when the time comes to upgrade this way I don't risk a fish fry by overpowering the heating right now.

Lighting is the real issue - I can't figure out a way to minimize the costs here. I'd like to plant the SA tank at a max of 2wpg. There will be no plants in the Lake Tang tank, so lighting is less of an issue. Since the lighting experts are in this forum I'm posting here. Does anyone have a creative way to upgrade this lights later on without dropping another couple of hundred dollars down the road ?

Any thoughts are trully appreciated. Thanks !

 

[mr funktastic]

u need to purchash a dual lighted hood that has individual switched. what kind of lighting were u looking at for your 55? high light? medium? u could get a light hood with multiple bulbs and simply turn the the amout that u want untill u get to the 55. this will be fairly expensive but definatly worth the money. how long would the 2 20 gal tanks be? are u going to have them side by side? u could run a single 48" strip over both with the individual lights like i said then turn on 2 on one side then only 1 on the other but that is assuming both tanks line up to be 48" which i dont think they will since u said they were long tanks. i have never liked internal filters but that is my own personal opinion. i like hob filters since that is majority what i use but maybe the canister guys will pipe in and say if there is a set up for u. maybe u can get a canister that will filter both tanks at the same time??? who knows. and also u dont need to worry about your heater cooking your fish. u could put a 300 watt heater ina 20 gal and it wont over heat it. it will just simply not have to work as hard. will only turn on for maybe 30 seconds to get the tank up to temp rather than a few minutes like a smaller heater would do. i hope that helps

 

[joannde]

Thanks for the response. The reason I didn't want to overpower the heaters was in case they failed and didn't turn off. The choice of internal filter was simply because the tanks will back up to a wall, so HOB isn't the best option in that case. The canister idea is interetesting - I could put it next to the tanks and hide it under a small table; I'd need to figure out if that would work (its only a partial wall so it might look weird).

I was going to do the tanks top and bottom, with the planted tank (SA cichlids) on top at 1.5 - 2 wpg and the lower tank with whatever a standard light factor is (.8 wpg ?? unimportant since that one won't be planted).

The 20 gallons are 30" long; a 55 is 48" long (I believe). I do like the idea of just buying a higher wattage fixture and then using 50/50 bulbs to get the right level for the 20 at this stage. I guess I could get a 30" fixture and then center that on the 48" long tank when the time comes.

But I'd have 9" on each side that wouldn't have light over it - so would I have to forego plants on the sides because of that ? Could I do some super low light plants (anubias and java moss mounted to some structure) on the sides and keep the medium-low light plants in the center ?

 

[Jchillin]

I wouldn't bother planting the 20 yet...it will cost a bundle to do both since the lighting you will need cannot fit both. Unless of course you buy the light for the 55 and jury-rig it somehow to fit the 20 now.

You can look into All-Glass 110 PC Light strip. I currently have it on my 75 gal. It will provide the 2wpg target you are looking for.

Filters? Although a canister is a bit large for a 20, you can turn the flow down. When you are ready to convert, just hook it up to the new tank. Heaters aren't an issue at all.

 

[joannde]

How about this.

I buy this one now:
http://www.hellolights.com/coaq30silist.html (30 inch, 65W, single bulb for $58)

And add this one alongside later:
http://www.hellolights.com/92xcomifraqc.html (9 inch, 2x9 Watt, $30)

That would give me 39 inches of coverage out of 48, leaving 4.5 inches on each side unlit. If I left an inch or two in between them I could get a little more coverage on the sides with double the ambient light in between. It won't look all that pretty but it should work, right ?

 

[joannde]

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