soggysandwich said:
I would like to higher the WPG in my tank right now. i currently have 20watt bulb, which makes 1WPG(very low). what would be a cheap and easy way to boost the WPG. and when i say cheap i mean cheap, like 1-20$ per bulb. I would get power compacts but the hoods for those are expensive. So what should I do.
PS: What about incandesents?? Or DIY hood??
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Well, I won't get you under $20, but I'll be pretty close. If you buy a glass hood, which run about $10, you can then fit two standard light strips for a 20g. You would just by an extra light strip. A standard 20inch, which holds a 15W bulb is $22.99 and the 24inch which holds a 20W bulb is $24.99. When you feed the fish, obviously you'll have to move one of the strip lights. The bulbs that come in the light fixture, however, aren't worth anything, though. With a good bulb, that could get you up to 2WPG. Another option may be to buy an incadescent fixture which is less expensive and outfit it with a compact florescent bulb. That would still be over $20, though as compact florescents aren't super cheap. The problem with that solution is that the light is only concentrated in one area, unless you found a fixture that held two bulbs. I find that the florescent strips distribute lighting better IMO.
A really temporary solution for me until my student loans came, was to buy a glass hood and then I bought a regular terrestrial growlight for plants, from a hardware store. The kind you would mount on a wall, it just had a bulb designed for plants, just not aquatic ones. It looked aweful, very silly, but it got me out of the 1WPG rutt and did well until I was able to upgrade to the Coralife T5 twin fixture I have now in my 15g, which is awesome, but pricey. Now, that I have money and just bought two CO2 systems for these tanks, I think I'll upgrade the 10g lighting to just that T5 fixture, it'll look less crowded, I think and the WPG will only go down from 3 to 2.8, which is not much, especially if I'm going to add CO2.
Sorry, I rambled, but I hope some of my information helped. Other people feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I just do what works for me.
