aaron

hi,
ok i figured my WPG wrong and instead of 1.6 i have .6.
I feel dumb

anyway so i have a 48" light fixture with a 34watt bulb. I wana do live plants(all of them low light such as java fern, java moss, ect) so can i just buy a higer watt bulb to put in?

I know nothing about lighting. Whats t5, t12, t8? Can someone just give me a suggestion on what they would do for what i am trying to achieve?
55 gallon
low light plants
cheap( im a teen)

thank you guys so much i hope you can steer me in the right direction!

mathas

I guess you could, but it wouldn't do much good. The wattage rating on a bulb indicates the amount of power it is designed to handle... how much is actually produced is controlled by the ballast in the fixture, not the bulb.

It's an indication of the diameter of a fluorescent bulb... t represents 1/8th of an inch, so a t5 bulb is 5/8" in diameter, a t8 bulb is 1" in diameter, and a t12 bulb is 1.5" in diameter.

I suppose that depends on your definition of cheap. The absolute cheapest thing you could do would be to get a can of flat ultra-white spray paint and paint the inside of the fixture. A quality flat white is a fairly effective reflector for a fairly insignificant price (~$5), and will help to direct a bit more light into the tank than is currently getting there now.

aaron

what about upgrading my wattage? its 34 watts now and i need over a little over 1wpg. Can you tell me what i need to do to be able to keep plants? Am i going to need to buy a new fixture?

aaron

oh and also the fixture says
120 line volts
normal amperes .67

aaron

hmm maybe I am not being clear enough.
I have a fixture with a 34watt bulb in it. So I know i can go purchase a 40watt bulb and that will give me a 6 watt increase. I am going to need 80 watts total for the setup i want in my 55 gallon. So should i just go buy another fixture 48" and put another 40watt bulb in it giving me a total of 80watts?

pepetj

If you have room for another light strip then you can do it. I upgraded 6 of my tanks that way, adding an extra fixture placed just behind.

Also check the ballast and find out what's the max wattage lamp it will handle. I've had light assemblies that came say with a 15W standard but the ballast specs clearly stated it would handle 20, so I just replaced the lamp for a 20W. In others the upgrade was more modest, say from 15W to 17W.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

aaron

wow thanks pepe!

I just hope I have room for it. From what I hear 40watts is the max for a 48" single fixture.