new lighting for 16 gallon

[joe23455]

Hi,
I would like to purchase some new lighting for my 16 gallon planted tank. (see my profile for a picture). I have the stock Light-Glo hood with 1 15W bulb (why do they sell this ?). I would like to get over 2 W/G without getting into a complicated CO2 system. What wattage can I go up to without complicating issues. Most important, what suggestions are there for off the shelf units that are 24 inches long.
Thanks
Cheers
Joe

 

[travis simonson]

You can probably go up to 2-2.5 wpg before CO2 starts to become something you really want to consider. I'm not very familiar with hoods for small tanks like that, but if you can find something that accepts screw-in incandescent lights then you can buy self-ballasted compact fluorescents at places like Wal-Mart and Home Depot that will fit in place of the incandescent bulb and give you a lot more wattage. Have you checked into that?

 

[joe23455]

Hi Travis,
I was thinking a similar thing while at the Home Depot regarding self-Balasting CF and that I could easily make a nice wood hood. Is the issue not that these bulbs seem to come in low energy light (3200 K) and not higher energy (>5000K)?

BTW Very Nice Tank you have on display!

Cheers
Joe

 

[czcz]

I use two 19-23W general-use/spiral/screw-in CFL with low/medium light plants. Commercial Electric EDXO-23 bought from Home Depot. Current plants do well, others haven't. "Re-strike" search of the forum will give excellent threads about low-cost lighting.

FWIW, if I ever DIY a hood I'll use a kit like http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm -- there's excellent feedback about ah supply on this forum.

 

[travis simonson]

Joe - you've hit on the main issue with the self-ballasting CF bulbs, most do not have a warm enough color temp (5000K+) to properly grow plants. Threre are a few brands, however, that are 'daylight' spectrum, you just have to look a bit to find them. Avoid anything labeled 'Soft White' as these are much too cool. Hopefully someone with some experience with self-ballasted CF lights will know

czcz - I can attest to the value of AHSupply retrofits. I just built a 3' hood with a 96w Bright Kit in it and that thing is incredible. For the money, I don't think anyone makes a brighter reflector