I'm confused

[smallfry53]

I am currently doing a fishless cycle, but I have bought a few plants not knowing the importance of lighting. I have a 29g tank. From what I have been reading it seems like I don't have enough light or maybe not the right type of light. This is all very confusing to me, but I checked my bulb and it is a 24" T8. From my research I think it is an 18 watt bulb. My hood says 20W on it though, so I don't think I could put a higher watt bulb in it. Is that enough?, or do I need to buy a different bulb/hood? Any thoughts and opinions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[aqua_chem]

Hmm, interesting. I think 24" T12 bulbs are 20w, and 24" T8 bulbs are 17w. I think you might be running a T8 tube in a T12 socket. It should work, but the power supplied by the hood is greater than what the bulb is rated for. This is known as "overdriving". If anything, it will shorten the life of the bulb.


That being said, you're going to be wanting for light with that setup. A T8 on a 29 will probably only grow very low light plants (if anything at all).

 

[smallfry53]

It is the bulb that came with the hood, so I would hope it was the right one for it. But anyway, is there a different bulb I can buy that will put out more light for that hood or do I need a different hood? Thanks for the help aqua.

 

[aqua_chem]

A different bulb's probably not going to affect your light level significantly. It's usually a matter of more hardware.

 

[smallfry53]

Ok thanks for the bad news. So what would you get?

 

[smallfry53]

I'm learning the hard way that those package deals with everything in them aren't the best way to go. I already bought an additional filter for it. I didn't realize that there was that much fluctuation in lighting though. At least I'll be better prepared when I get a bigger tank.