tom28

hi, this is going to sound like a very stupid question...
how do i find out how much my lights are giving out in wats. i cant find any mention of how much in the booklet that came with the tank. it was all purchased as a starter kit with aquarium, light and filter. i checked the light and it doenst say the wats either. i just put some java fern in there becuase i figured it was a pretty low lighting and want to make sure that im not going end up killing it
thanks, tom

Mike22

a lot of the time the wattage will be printed on the bulb somewhere

Amanda

And java fern should do fine with standard lighting. They are a very low light plant.

pepetj

There should be some numbers at one of the edges of the fluorescent lamp. The first numbers after the letter F usually indicates the wattage.

like F15T8 18". That means Fluorescent 15W, T8 (standard socket), 18" long.

Hope this helps. That's the code in the lamp of my 10gal starting kit.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Wyphy

Here's a general idea of the wattage.
Assuming it's a tube, it's a T(x) lamp, where x = the diameter in 1/8" increments, so:
T5 = 5/8"
T8 = 8/8" = 1"
T12 = 12/8" = 1.5"

I'd guess it's a T8, so if it's 18" long, it'd be around 15W-18W, 24" about 17W-20W; it varies with brand, but as that was a whole 'starter aquarium set' it's probably on the low side on wattage.

You may also want to get a new lamp as those everything-kits tend to be on the lower end of the quality scale, but it's usable for a while.
Lamps are fairly cheap, from around $5 each to $20 each depending on brand, output, and bought online vs. LFS.
T8 and T12 are sometimes interchangeable, but I'd be cautious with a 'generic' type like you have, and just get the same size.
You'd want to get a good full spectrum lamp or a more specialized plant lamp.
DFS has spectrum plots for many of their lamp and some good general lighting articles to read so you have a better idea of what you need and want.

If you only want that Java Fern, then the one lamp is probably fine, but if you really want to get into live plants you will need to have more (sometimes much more) light.

-Edit-
pepetj :
The 'T' means 'Tube' and the number is 1/8ths of inches, as I mentioned, not 'standard socket', the rest of your decoding is correct though.

tom28

wicked, those two last posts hit it home. i got the wattage now and it looks like my java fern will do fine. thanks