Lighting question: out of luck?

[LittleNami]

Hey everyone, here I am once again ^^ Sorry to be such a worry wort bringing up so many questions, but I don't like just sitting on my hands wondering about something even after doing research.

I found for my tank that I have a 5000K 13W Compact Fluorescent ES12 lamp, about 8 in long. I feel in my tank it only gives me a low light at best, even though it is only a 12 gal, but I have live plants to worry about. I am trying to grow the plants large and healthy for my mother's tank so that her fish won't be quite so disasterous to them once replanted, but with such a low light output, I can't do much. After looking over a few online stores, I am finding that the only way to get a higher watt output is to get a bigger sized lamp, but my tank is a self contained unit and I can't do that unless I remove the hood, which I am not keen on. Am I pretty much out of luck then unless I fashion a new hood for my tank to better situate a larger bulb? Or is there a lamp that is still about 8 in that has a higher output?

TIA ^^

 

[Purrbox]

You would either need to replace the fixture or ODNO your current fixture. If you decide to replace the fixture you can get a glass canopy and then rest the new fixture on top of it. ODNO will be a lot less expensive, but would require you to rewire your fixture. If you do a search for ODNO you should be able to find lots of information on what you would need to do.

 

[LittleNami]

Wow Just browsing over some articles already now. I never thought I would be getting into electrician material terminology and such over my little ol' tank ^^ Ah, what we are willing to do for the love of our tanks

Edit: It seems the the initial risk of using a ODNO is the higher heat, which would more than likely melt my hood since it is just a cheap plastic of sorts and the lighting is resting quite near it. Would a fan suffice to reduce the heat on that or might I need to rig up a new hood anyways?

 

[Tong]

CO2 injection would help. I read an experiment on CO2 and on a low light no CO2 injected tank the plants grew at a rate of about 1%. With CO2 injection and low light the plants grew at a rate of about 4.5%. With no CO2 and high light the plants grew at a rate of about 6%. My numbers could be off as I am doing this from memory but the conclusion is simple. If you want more growth, first try to add more light. If you can't add more light, you could add CO2. And from your other post, the CO2 will also bring your PH down a little.

 

[7Enigma]

One thing you can do to help increase the amount of light that the plants can use is to reflect it back into the tank. I have done this to great effect in my 20gallon tank. Can you describe your 12 gallon setup? Is it simply a rectangle or some odd shape (octogon for example)? Either way this will work, but its obviously easier with a standard shape.

What I did was went out and bought 4 Mylar party balloons from the local store (you would probably only need 2-3). I then cut them in half along the seam so that you end up with 2 flat circular pieces. These were then trimmed to the dimensions of the glass sides of the tank and taped firmly to the sides of the tank (only left and right sides). Shiny side on the INSIDE! Try to have as little creases as possible for these 2 pieces. For the front of the tank (where you view the fish from) I had to put 3 overlapping pieces of Mylar together to make a sort of curtain. These were then taped at the top and draped down the front of the tank. When not viewing the fish (when I'm at work or out of the house) I keep the "curtain" down, and when doing maintainence or viewing the tank I remove the front curtain. What this does is reflect virtually all the light that would normally escape the tank and reflect it back into the tank.

While this might sound like a stupid thing to do, you would be surprised how much it can help in situations like your's where the light level is so low to begin with. I still use this setup with my new 65watt CF bulb on the 20gallon as I find it "evens" out the plant growth. Previously plants right near the center of the tank (where the strip light is setup) will grow very quickly and straight up, while foreground and background plants would bend towards the center of the tank, or even worse at 90 degree angles to the bottom so they were long-ways with the light. It was really frustrating having plants grow sideways in the tank but otherwise be healthy.

Please let me know if you choose to do this if you have any questions.

justin

 

[7Enigma]

CO2 injection would help. I read an experiment on CO2 and on a low light no CO2 injected tank the plants grew at a rate of about 1%. With CO2 injection and low light the plants grew at a rate of about 4.5%. With no CO2 and high light the plants grew at a rate of about 6%. My numbers could be off as I am doing this from memory but the conclusion is simple. If you want more growth, first try to add more light. If you can't add more light, you could add CO2. And from your other post, the CO2 will also bring your PH down a little.

Your numbers are almost dead on (if from the article posted below). CO2 will ALWAYS help a planted tank, regardless of light level (blackout excluded of course ), moreso obviously under higher light, but still beneficial under low light.

http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html#6

 

[Tong]

Thats the article. Also a good read on DIY CO2 if you are interested LittleNami.

 

[LittleNami]

Oh, thank you so much for that article! See, lots of people keep mentioning yeast and DIY CO2 injectors, but when it came down to it, I didn't understand a word they were saying or how in the world to create one. This explains it all very well ^^

Justin: Thank you for that idea, I think that will actually help for now very well. I am gone from my tank for many hours while I am at work, so creating this curtain effect would be really easy for me since I am the only person viewing it. This will allow me time to save up money and decide what I want to do for a more permanent lighting solution, which was a concern for me since as a college student, budget is a major concern -_-

Thank you so much everyone for your quick responses, I think you saved my jungle Val ^^