ssanubisss

Hi I have recently set up a 15 gallon tank that i bought from wall mart and i wanted to get some live plants going in my tank. The think is i would like to not have to replace the whole hood as this is a bit more money than i would like to spend at the moment. I was wondering if 2 n:vision 14 Watt Daylight Compact Fluorescent Light that supposedly give off 60 watt equivalent would be enough light for most of my plants needs. ohh one more think the temp that the lights run on is 5000k i think. any advise would be appreciated thanks in advance

bmxer193

How many plants is "some"? What is wattage of the light in there now? And what kind of plants do you want to add? I have a 29gal with a 20 watt light with a few plant in it and they are growing great. I would recommend an amazon sword I have one (Im going to buy another soon) they dont need much light, will grow to a good size and look nice. Just remember to add iron or they wont do well

ssanubisss

I was thinking of doing 2 maybe 3 tall leafy looking plants in the back of the tank and 1-2 small plants in the front. Honestly i dont know the watts for the lights that are in there now but the color of the lights dont do any justice to the fish or the ornaments in the tank the light is very yellowish looking to me which i dont like. As for the type of plants i havent decided on that yet I'm pretty new to this and am still in the process of researching what i need to know about aquarium plants. I would like to get opinions on if this is enough light for low to med light requiring plants.

fishlover78

If the lighting that came with the kit is probably incandescent then, in my opinion is does no justice for the aquatic life and the decorations.

bmxer193

Sounds like you have an incandescent light in there now (this usually is in tanks under 20gals) Which is why its yellow and doesnt look great. Look for a label on your hood somewhere, it will tell you the wattage for the bulbs, On my 10 gal hood the labels near the cut out for the filter on my 30 gal the labels on the back of the light. Im not even sure if this type of light will do anything for your plants so you may need to get a hood that a fluorescent light will go in, This will also make your tank look ALOT better

ssanubisss

the max rating for the bulbs for the hood is 15 watts. the bulbs in there now are probly two 15 watt incandescent bulbs. the actual watts these bulbs pull from the power source is 14 but put out aproximatly 60 watts of light these bulbs are florescent they are just compact. this will cost me about $10 to do getting a new hood is out of my budget for now the temp they run at is 5000k which i though was the ideal for plant light i may be wrong but thats what i get from reading on these forums so i thought these might work.

GreenMan13

Those n:vision lights will work perfect. They are what I am using right now. Two 15 watt ones will give you 30 watts of energy not 120 though. So you will have about 2 watts per gallon on your 15 gallon tank. The incandescents give off a lot less light so a 60 watt bulb would give you like 10-15 watts worth of energy for the plants. I'm sure it came with something like a 20 watt so you are getting something like a watt or two of energy out.

You should look on the hood and try to find a max wattage that the socket can handle. It is most likely 20-30 watts though so the 14 watt bulbs will be fine.

My 10 gallon hood has two in it right now and my 55 gallon has 4 in it right now. They work great for plants. Another type of bulb you can try if you want slightly whiter are the GE daylight ones as they give off a 6500K. They are on walmart's website. That's more of a preference though as 5000K and 6500K are both good for plants.

ssanubisss

great thank you very much i was hoping that would fix my problem with a cheaper alternative than changing out the hood.