Lighting help, please!

[atomicjade]

Ok, I want to have a thriving, planted tank. It is definitely a work in progress. It is a 16 gallon bowfront tank, taller than it is long, and since it is a bowfront it has a specific hood. Since the maximum wattage I could get for a fluorescent tube was 15, I had my lovely boyfriend take the incandescent hookups from another hood customized onto mine so it would fit properly and I could have two lights and increase the wattage. I bought two clear 15w aquarium bulbs from PetSmart.. but it is so lackluster! My old fluorescent was so much brighter, is there other kinds of bulbs I could buy that would be better? Maybe somewhere online? It is a freshwater tank, I have natural driftwood, anubias, amazon swords, and java fern at the moment. But these lights definitely aren't working for me, I want something where you can actually look at the tank and think "wow" and these lights certainly aren't doing it. Help, please? thumbs2:

[Fishguy2727]

A couple companies have screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs that greatly improve lighting but still use the incandescent fixtures. Coralife has both a 'Colormax' which is a pinkish white and a 50/50 with actinic and 10,000K. Both of these come in 10 and 20 watt sizes. Aqueon has something like a 10 or 13 watt 5,500K. I have used the Coralife 50/50 20 watts and they are great.

What wattage can that fixture handle?

[atomicjade]

Its two fixtures and it can handle up to 25 watts per which 50 watts would be too much for my tank... I figured two 15s would be fine but the bulbs I have suck. Any good sites where I could order the fluorescent bulbs with the incandescent fixture?

[korith]

Hmm just as a reference you can look at [Only Registered Users Can See Links.] Find something that works with your tank. Then compare prices with ones on other sites. May even want to look at petco/petsmart, there web prices are different from the instore prices. [Only Registered Users Can See Links.] is another site that has ok pricing.

[NickFish]

50 watts is not too much for your tank if you bring up the CO2 and nutrients. Everything needs to be raised in balance. If you bring it up to 50w, which would be about ideal for your tank, you will also have to add at the very least DIY CO2 (which only works because your tank is so small, and CFs don't produce a ton of light anyways), and you will have to do daily fertilization.

If you have no CO2 you should stay where you are in terms of lighting. If you want a nice thriving planted tank though, regardless of your lighting you should REALLY look into DIY CO2. Its not absolutely needed, but it makes an unbelievably huge difference. Very cheap too, you can easily set one up for under $10-$20.


Just because its a bowfront doesn't mean you need a specific light. You need a specific hood yes, but not lighting. You can get a special bowfront glass canopy, which is just a piece of glass over the top. And then you can place any kind of light fixture you like over that glass canopy.


The best place to find aquarium quality fluorescent bulbs is Target. Sounds funny, eh? They sell 13 and 15w 6500K fluorescent bulbs which would be perfect for your set up right now.

Don't forget this one rule. Everything must be raised in balance. First you raise your CO2, then your lights, and then your ferts in that order. If you want a lot of light you have to be prepared to do daily dosing and set up CO2 injection.

[atomicjade]

I have looked at the local PetsMart and they only have generic lights, like the ones I have now. Thank you so much NickFish, you really did make a lot of sense with your input.

Let me clarify, earlier I meant that the only hood I could find with incandescent fixtures was attached to a sort of preset mould for a normal 10 gallon, I couldn't find one anywhere where it was only just the actual hood so my boyfriend put all the pieces off the incandescent one into my current one so it would fit. Make sense?

I would like to look forward to a small co2, I'm not exactly sure at this point everything that would be involved. I have fertilizer tabs in the sand now and iron enriched nutrients I add every week or so. Now I'm trying to get the lighting in order... I will have to stop by Target tomorrow and check out their lights.. thanks again!

[NickFish]

The one other thing you need is a comprehensive fertilizer.

There are many different things you can dose with, but in your set up the one liquid fert you need is a comprehensive solution. Look into the Flourish line of products. Best liquid sentiments in my opinion. Get the Flourish comprehensive solution. You may still need to get other things, like Flourish Excel and Flourish potassium, but comprehensive is a must.


I know what you meant jade, but you don't have to do that. You could even put T5s over that tank if you took out the hood altogether.

[Fishguy2727]

Brightwell Aquatics is another really good brand to check out.

[atomicjade]

I found two 15 watt fluorescents at Wal-Mart with 6500k which I have on the tank now, and it looks so much better. Will these lights be sufficient?

[NickFish]

Will these lights be sufficient?

Like I've been saying, its all about balance.

If you want a fast growing tank, no they aren't.

If you want a slower growing low maintenence tank, they're too much.

Its all relative, and its all balance.

What are you aiming for here? If you have no CO2 and you are only dosing the substrate you have too much light already. At least starting putting something in the water column. Its better to have very little of something than an imbalance of everything.

What do you plan on adding? What else is there for you?

[atomicjade]

What should I put in the water column? I did have a 15 watt bulb and everyone here told me it wasn't enough. I'm not sure what else I plan on adding but I would like a sort of "grassy" plant to cover some of the bottom. Other than that I like the plants I have.