30W For A 55 Gallon Quarium

[FishSticks]

I think I'm in trouble again. I recently purchased a whole bunch of plants of the internet, they will probably arrive in less than a week. I was looking at my new aquarium and I noticed that the hood has 2 Eclipse Natural Daylight F15T8. I'm guessing it's the 18" light bulb because I measured it and it's like 17.4" without the pins. Now I looked it up on the internet and found out that these 18" bulbs only have 15 Watts of light! and here are the plants I ordered...

• 5 Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae)
• 2 Crispus (Aponogeton crispus)
• 1 Planted Driftwood Tree w/Java Fern
• 2 Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides)
• 3 Anacharis (Egeria densa)
• 2 Red Rubin (Echinodorus rubin)

Did I just waist over $150 on these plants? Does anyone think these plants have a chance in a 55 gallon tank w/ 30W of lighting? I can't find any 18" bulb that has more than 15W to add more wattage! Somebody please give me a suggestion! It's a lot of money!

 

[NickT]

a 48" dual bulb fixture wold help and 2 wold be perfect if you have any laying around..... i wold sugest powercompact lighting tho.. 2x65 works well for me and i found a used one here on the bords for $100 that fits 4x65. when you get into thehigh wattage you need co2 injection or youll ged bad algae.... it took only days to get teh pea soup look before i hooked up c02. a c02 latter and 2ltr bottle seem to work for the 55g tank and it cost me $12 to set that up.....

 

[DivaSkyChick]

Okay, from what I've researched, there are no companies in business that make retrofits for Eclipse hoods. So you may be stuck with what you got, lighting-wise. You can probably get slightly higher watt bulbs - I'm still trying to figure out what are the best ones we can get.

Check out this link for your plants and their light needs: http/192.38.244.204/plant_print.asp

Where do you live? If you have the wrong plants for your capabilities, it's possible that someone here might be willing to buy / trade?

 

[FishSticks]

Actually I don't think I have an Eclipse hood, just the Eclipse light bulbs that came with this 55 Gallon Aquarium Kit I bought @ Wal-Mart. I'm not even sure that the bulbs are only 15W each, it doesn't say on the bulb! Would some fertilizer tabs or liguid fertilizer help, maybe? By the way I live in Norhtern Illinois.

Check out this link for your plants and their light needs: http/192.38.244.204/plant_print.asp

It was a very helpfull link although it disappointed me. The only low-light plants I purchased are the Java Ferns and Java moss...I don't understand, all the plants I ordered had a care-level of very easy to easy. I thought lighting was part of the care-level but I guess not. All the other plants need medium to high ligthing according to that web site.

 

[vidiots]

I had a similar problem with my 55gal made by "All Glass Aquarium". Fortunately they do have power compact lights that fit the 48" 55gal tank with the two light fixtures. It requires replacing the entire fixture. These power compact bulbs are 55W each so that gets you up to 2 watts per gallon which is fine for most plants. I have had good luck with these lights and growing various aponogeton's, water sprite, anacharis, and horn wort. I ordered my lights online from Big Al's http/www.bigalsonline.com. If you don't want to replace your lights, the java fern should grow, and the anacharis & water sprite may grow although very slowly. I tried the 30W myself for a while and didn't have much sucess. The LFS kept telling me that the flourecent bulbs I had were good enough because they were brighter than incandecent bulbs and sold me some full spectrum bulbs but they were still only 15W each. Always my plants would last for a few months, rarely showing any sign of growth and would eventually die off. After I replaced the lights I have found it easy to grow plants. The thing to watch out for with the power compact fixtures is that although they are the same length as your stock light fixtures they are slightly wider and I have a pretty snug fit with mine between the HOB filter & Heater and the plastic door on the front of the top cover, but it does fit. I'm not sure if it would be better to get the 48" long light hood, because you would then be able to get the standard cheaper 48" bulbs which I think are usually 40W, but inorder to get as much light or more you would need three bulbs and that fixture would also be wider and may cause fit issues cause the top of the 55gal is narrow.

 

[English Lion]

I have low light levels in my set up too and I manage to grow all sorts including some of what you mentioned. (Java Fern and 3 Anacharis (Egeria densa)). I wouldn't worry too much about the lighting. Give it a go and try to buy low light plants in future.

Anything with red leaves needs higher light levels generally

 

[FishSticks]

WOW! Thanks...very helpful! I'm sorry what do you mean by "It requires replacing the entire fixture"? You mean I have to buy completely new hoods!? I saw the price and they cost more than my aquarium and tank stand put together! You kinda gave me an idea of what I need but I'm not completely sure exactly what I need. I can just buy and replace whats inside the hoods? Could you please post a link of what you bought? One more questions vidiots do you use Co2 in your tank? Thanks in advance.

 

[DivaSkyChick]

More low light plants: http/www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.p...y=1&filter_by=2

http/www.aquabotanic.com/abstore/en-us/dept_5.html

http/www.aquamaniacs.net/ProvenPerformer...aticPlants.html

http/www.azgardens.com/habitats_easy.php

Great all around guide to the planted tank: http/rexgrigg.com/pg1.htm

Good forum with plant advice: http/aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x

Another good forum with plant advice: http/www.plantedtank.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=21

Hope this helps and doesn't give away the fact that I've become totally obsessed have no life... )

 

[aloaring]

why not try some reflectors? I have a 47 gallon tank wiht only a 36 watt bulb i added reflector to boost it as well as laterite to the gravel and my plants are thriving and i have an algae bloom, so i assume its working. Most of my plants are the low light, easy care plants but they are doing very well in my tank now!

 

[Genki]

You probably can't get a higher wattage into the hood you already have. The standard aquarium hood usually only can take a very small wattage bulb. If you look on the back or under it should tell you the max wattage it can take.

If you need a temporary fix I've heard of a lot of people going to home depo and just getting a set of shop lights (the long white ones you'd find in a school or basemeant or something). It might not be very pretty but it's very cheap.

 

[NickT]

scrap the hood and go for a 4x65 or 2X65 PC kit... bigals has them for dirt cheap and you wont regret it....

or like i said in my first post

a 48" dual bulb fixture wold help and 2 wold be perfect if you have any laying around

those lights where like $25 at home depot and they came with bulbs....
and with 2 you will have more than enuff light......

am i invisible or somthing...

 

[FishSticks]

No your not invisible, I just didn't know what you were talking about I received my plants in the mail today does anyone know if I'm suppose to remove that sponge that is wrapped arund the roots for the potted aquarium plants? Or do I leave it on and plant tham with it?

 

[charmd2]

Remove as much of it as you can without destroying the roots. It is filled with nutrients and may cause a huge algae problem if you leave it on. It also could be harboring parasites, snails, etc.

 

[tear-scar]

Most likely, you will need ENTIRELY NEW FIXTURES AND BULBS. No way around it really . . .

I mean, I run the same lighting you have over my 10g and still get only "medium" lighting conditions.