How Long Can I Go?

[stevewood]

I'm about to purchase the hardware needed to upgrade the hood and lighting on my 2ft tank from a single 18w tube in a monarch hood to a combination of either:

1) the standard juwel monolux 15in lamp plus additional T8

or

2) the standard juwel monolux 15in lamp plus Interpet PC 36w or 55w

Ideally i want to install the longest length tube possible to illuminate the full length of the tank, so this points me in the direction of the 55w PC, but at 21ins is this too long to fit in the Rekord 60/70 hood?

And also, does a 36w PC lamp provide sufficient coverage over the full length of tank or should I expect 'dim' areas?

Regards

Steve

 

[SkiFletch]

I can't comment on the Juwel hood, you'll have to break out your own measuring tape to confirm that. I will say that with a 36, YOU won't see dull/dim areas, but any plants at the edges of the aquarium might not have enough likgth for photosynthesis

 

[stevewood]

To be honest 36w + the 15w already in will be sufficient for my tank giving me around 2.83 WPG, I was more worried about the light coverage. Having had a look at a few people's journals on here i think the 36w PC will be fine, i'm not overly bothered about massive plant growth, just want them to be a little more healthy looking than in the current 1 WPG set up.

 

[BHornsey]

To be honest 36w + the 15w already in will be sufficient for my tank giving me around 2.83 WPG, I was more worried about the light coverage. Having had a look at a few people's journals on here i think the 36w PC will be fine, i'm not overly bothered about massive plant growth, just want them to be a little more healthy looking than in the current 1 WPG set up.

I have a Rekord 70. I have no problems growing with just the 15w tube. Unless you are going to try some really difficult plants you will be fine. All I have done recently was to replace the aging tropical tube with an Arcadia Freshwater plant tube.
Within three weeks I can have cabomba & hygrophila grown so long it covers the surface. Twice the light would simply double the growth