Lights

[black hills tj]

Hey Everyone,

I have a 29g tank that currently has a 24" Coralife 65w 6700k Compact flourescent fixture over it. My 20g tall tank has a T8 bulb over it(thinking 20w). I want to move the 65w over to the 20g and upgrade the lighting on the 29g. I'd like to move to a 30" fixture around 96w(i think thats the next step up). Having some trouble finding what I'm looking for though. What do you guys think and can you link me to some suggestions?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[black hills tj]

any help guys?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

http://cgi.ebay.com/36-JBJ-96W-PC-A...ryZ46314QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

 

[black hills tj]

The 29g tank is only 30" long...that's why I am looking for a 30" long fixture with a 96w bulb. Do they not make these? In order to go with higher light and stay 30" would I have to go to a fixture with 2 bulbs?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Oh, my bust. I did a search and had 30" in there, and it brought up some 36" ones. I currently have a Coralife fixture on my 29G with 2 65W bulbs in mine.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Coralife-30-2x6...ryZ46314QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

 

[black hills tj]

That one has an actinic bulb, and I'd rather have two 6700 bulbs. Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't really want to spend that much, but maybe I'll be splurging soon here.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Most come set up for SW, that's why the actinic. When I got mine, it had one of each, and I just bought a couple extra bulbs, and got rid of the actinic. I got mine off Foster and Smith, so I actually paid a little more for mine.

 

[newfound77951]

The 96 watt bulbs are 34" long, so they won't work for a 29. I'm having a similar problem finding lighting for a 20 long; the closest size bulbs are the 24" 65 watt ones. If you got a 2x65 watt fixture and put one 50:50 and one full 6500 or 10000K bulb that would give you about 100 useable watts (I'm guessing you're talking planted tank here) and should do the trick.

 

[black hills tj]

Right now I'm leaning towards picking up a coralife 30" 2x65 which would give me 130w. I do have DIY CO2 and ferts so what do you think? I can get it for 120 bucks+shipping.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I used to have the 2 x 65 watt set up on my saltwater tank and it's definitley a good unit. I was going to reccomend T5 but it's near impossible to find a 30" set up. If you get on hellolights.com you can find a 2 x 6700k but it's around $155.

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=215

 

[rich311k]

I have 130 watts on my 29. It is a lot of light so be prepared. Good steady CO2 and ferts will be a must.

 

[black hills tj]

think 4.x wpg is overkill for the 29g? I was looking at moving that 65w unit over to my 20g tank and figured that I might as well upgrade instead of just getting another 65w unit. What do you think?

 

[newfound77951]

4 wpg will be fun....if you like things to grow at the speed of light! But remeber, you can always put some 50/50 bulbs in there and slow things down. That is what I am doing on my 55, I have 2x96 watts and things happen FAST. I am very interested to see what happens with the 50/50s.

 

[black hills tj]

What is the difference in a 50/50 bulb and a normal CF bulb? I'm really leaning towards a 2x65 on the 29g and a 65 on the 20g. What do you think? Do you think I'd have to step up to pressurized CO2 soon after doubling the wattage on the 29g tank or would DIY be okay?