Lighting Upgrade

[RCShevalier]

I recently bought a used fifty gallon aquarium and I believe it has two of these for lighting:

Perfecto Replacement 24" Fluorescent Strip Light // Aquarium Supplies Canada - Pond Supplies Canada - Reptile Supplies Canada // Pets & Ponds

Unfortunately this means that the aquarium only has 30 watts of lighting and I was hoping to have the option of live plants. Is there a simple way that I can upgrade the wattage in this hood?

Can I simply buy a higher wattage bulb and put it in the same hood?
If not, is there another same sized hood that I could purchase?

What would you guys do in my scenario?

 

[brennae]

I'd get a glass top usually made by perfecto or called Versa tops. And then measure the length of your tank (I'm not familiar with 50g off the top of my head) and look up lights with that measurement. I like T5 lights and some people like led lights.

For yours you can purchase a plant bulb with the spectrum specific to plants buy with a tank that I am assuming is deep that kind of light won't really reach plants on the bottom of the tank. Some brands sold in the US are Fluval, Current, aquaticlife, zoomed. If this tank is not for display in your high traffic area you could just buy shop lights and hang them above the tank. I have T5 and T5 HO lights from the hardware store. Oh and here's a tip. On the very end of the bulb there should be writing and numbers unless it's led. So look for the bulb to say T12, T10, T8, T5 and T5 HO. That tells you what kind of light you have easier than going by watts at least here it does. In the store they are grouped by the T and then the number.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[mambee]

I agree with going with the glass top. I've been in the hobby a long time and sometimes it takes a while for an old dog to learn a new trick. In the past, I always purchased full hoods. Now I have replaced all of my hoods with glass tops which allow for any type of light configuration. I've gone over the years from T-12 to T-8 to T5 HO and now LED.

If you want to do live plants, the best low light plants are anubias, Java fern and cryps. The first 2 grow best attached to driftwood.

 

[RCShevalier]

Just curious if I could use a 18" 17W T5 fluorescent bulbs with this starter:

Aqueon Aquarium Flourescent Starter FS-22 at PETCO

I know the package says 15W, but the starter itself says 4-22W.

Thoughts?