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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| all of those different bulbs are meant for different things, growing plants, reef/saltwater lights, different colors sunlight, daylight, greenish, blue, purple, etc. personally, i just get whatever one is rated the closest to just plain white | 
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| I want a planted tank. I have standard one bulb hoods, but all those bulbs are 15w. Are there any bulbs that come in a larger wattage? I can't afford a new lighting system. | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| yeah they have higher wattage bulbs i think.....but if you find one that is rated for plants then it should be okay. i wish i knew more about this, i just had to go pick out a new bulb, the one that the new hood i bought came with was purple and i didn't like it at all. if you get them in-store, you can ask one of the employees to show you what the light will look like by putting it on one of the hoods in their tanks, at least the employee at the store i went to did that | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Which size tank are you talking about? | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| 55, 20 & 10.
Eventually all will be planted. My 10 is okay I think...15 w over 10 gal. The light is purple-ish though. My 20 gal. light is 15w, once again BRIGHT purple. My 55 gal. has 2 15w bulbs, one is purple, the other I replaced ans is a warm white color. | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| If you want all your tanks planted, you are going to have a problem. The ballast in those stock lights will not handle more wattage. I have one tank (20 gal) that I put two stock lights back to back. It's still not enough but if you get plants needing low light, (like java ferns ) it works great. Also after seeing some of the prices of the bulbs, I got a cheap mini compact and also put it behind a stock light in my 30 ga hex. I LOVE it and it works great!!! As a matter of fact I think Dr Foster has them on sale. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...2&pcatid=11382
... no I take it back... but someone had them on sale for $25. | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| I only want low-light right now. I don't want to have to do CO2 injections & such. Just enough light for anacharis, java fern, and anubias to thrive. | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| What about compact flourescents? They are double bulbs that have one prong right? | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Here is a before and after picture using compact mini! | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Wow, I want to look into compacts - at least for one side of my 55 gal. Are they all the same? | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Slow down! The compact mini won't help with your 55 gal! It will work for your 10 or 20 gal. You first said you want to keep costs down. So you need to start small. Your 55 gal will need a much larger light. I paid $125 for a light for my 55 gal and I won't even say how much the light for my 75 gal is. (not that I paid a lot... "Craigslist") | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| I'm not getting any of this any time soon. This is brainstorming.
The hoods on all of my tanks are the same size light.
My 55 gal. has 2 small hoods. So why would it be any different lights? | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Because you need 2-4 watts per gal. So you're talking 20-40 watts for your 10 gal, 40-80 watts for your 20 and... 110-220 watts for your 55 gal!
Right now you have two standard 15 watt bulbs (30 watts) in your 55 gal but you need "at least' 110. The mini compact is only about 20 watts. If you want to save up for a "relatively" cheap compact florescent: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...8&pcatid=11418 | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| I don't want high-light. I want low to medium. I don't want to get into CO2 or special substrates. I really only want maybe 1 -2 WPG. Just enough for low light pants. | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| That's why the "single" compact" would be a good choice for your 55 gal. Java ferns are an example of low light (2 wpg or at least 110 watts). | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Someone, somewhere told me that java ferns do better at lower light. Like .7-1 WPG and will burn at higher light. | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| I'd say between 1-3 watts. But don't forget the the tank will look nicer with a variety of plants. As a matter of fact, I have Java ferns in my 75 gal which is at 3.5 wpg, so I'm growing some plants "over" the fern to shade it some. This way I have an assortment of plants. This is where you start to get creative. The more color, textures and heights, the more the tank comes together.
Sorry I'm typing slow... My wife is sharing the computer with me. | |
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