JustFishingAround

Ok i have 2 questions, the first is about my current setup on my 20g long tank. It currently is running a nothing to fancy 1 tube fluorescent strip which can only handle 20w max. I have a 20w aqua-glo tube in it which says is good for fish and planted aquariums, also says 18000 k and is a t-8. I just wonder if it's the right kind of tube or not, i have 3 plants in the tank at the moment all are low light types and i will add a few more which will also be low light. But my java fern seems to be really wilty looking and has some serious brownish dead looking tips, does this have anything to do with my lighting?

Ok now for question 2, i need a whole lighting setup for this tank because it did not come with any source of lighting. It's a 30g tank and will be planted with mostly low light and possibly a medium light or 2.(not sure yet)
I want to know what kind of lighting would be good for my plants but at the sametime not bust my wallet. I kind of was looking to have something that didn't sit right on the tank like my 20g but instead had legs to raise it up a few inches, although if need be i will run the flat type. I was looking at a triple tube strip that all run the t-8 type tubes, i just assumed t-5 would be far to much for low light plants. So is a triple a good choice or would a double be better? Seems at the local petsmart they don't currently have any double strips in 36" and sadly both the triple and double that are in my price range are all glass.
Ok think that's it, hopfully someone will understand my ramblings and be able to help point me in the right light direction.

Blub

sirdarksol

The 18,000k bulb may be frying your plants. I do not fully understand the whole lighting thing myself, but it seems that the higher-k lights are best for plants/animals that generally live in deeper water. I had one of the actinic white bulbs (around 10,000k), and it killed every plant the light fell on. I only figured out just what was happening when one of my anubias had a leaf that was half in shadow. There was a line down the center of the leaf, and the shadowed half was fine, the other half was fried. I pulled the actinic white out, replaced it with a "standard" bulb of the same wattage, and have had no problems since.

GreenMan13

#1 I would go with a lower K tube since 18000K has very little color other then blue so the plants are probably not getting everything they need. 6500K or 5500K would be pretty good since that is the color of the sun and what most freshwater plants need.

Edit...I can explain this more if wanted since I have done quite a bit of research on it and studied light and waves in school(physics deg).

#2 Are you willing to do a DIY hood/lighting canopy? That would be the cheapest and nicest if you put in the time and effort. CFL bulbs would be the bulb type I would use also for those since you would not need to worry about external ballasts and they are cheap too. 5500 or 6500K on this too.

sjlchgo

I changed to SUN-GLO Fluorescent Bulbs and my plants have flourished! I also use Leaf Zone in the water.