Lighting 4 Planted Tank

[LightMyTank]

First of all,hello everyone! This is a great site & I'm sure I'll return again & again I found you while searching the web for lighting help. I have been at it for over 3 hours only to be still totally lost & confused. I have a 45 Gal. (36x24x12) "newly planted" tropical, community tank. My lighting hood measures 35 inches (it's called a 36") the one fluorescent light tube is 24" long and a mere 18 watts, (its a Flora*Sun Max Plant Growth brand). After much research I've come to the conclusion I need way more watts of light, the problem is, my hood will only accommodate one 24 inch light tube & the max wattage I can find is 20 watts. How do I upgrade my wattage? I know it can be done,now the but ....I dont have $250+ to spend on "Power Compact Lighting Retrofit Fixtures" is that my only option? I'm open to any & all suggestions.

 

[fishme2death]

BTW, welcome to the forum!!!.....Hoping you like it here as there is a wealth of information and sharing as you can see.

You may get many different variations on this subject, so its is up to you on how to change your lighting situation. There will be anything from do-it-yourself (DIY) to more expensive models that you have mentioned or using lights made by the tank top designer.

This is what I would do. Replace your existing plastic hood for an all glass top. You can usually purchase one online or at your local fish store that carries them. You will usually have to redesign the plastic fitting to accomondate your filter and things. Buy shop lights at a local store and bulbs where ever you can get either a full spectrum bulb or plant bulbs. Affix this to the top of your tank and above the glass top. It is recommended for planted tanks to have between 2 or 3 times in watts to tank size. You will also have to take your fish into consideration when doing so. Some fish dont like the bright light.

So, no matter what you do, I know you wont be able to change much of your existing hood in the bulb wattage. You could also try getting another light fixture to match your existing hood at a higher wattage, but I am sure costs may be of some importance.

Hoping this made some amount of sense

 

[LightMyTank]

Replace your existing plastic hood for an all glass top.

if by plastic hood you mean the tank cover....not the light fixture, it already is all glass & the light hood(?) sits atop it.

 

[LesGerber]

Light, First let me welcome you to the forum, and I hope you enjoy your time here. Now on to your lighting needs the general concensus is that you are going to need to get around 1.5 to 2 times the gallonage in wattage for your aquarium. Now with this in mind you are in the same boat as alot of us. My tank is a 55 and it has a whopping 40 watts of light. My plants really show it too, they arent growing as near as well as I would like.
The only thing to increase your wattage is to get more light, and when you have a pre made lighting hood there isnt much in the line of choices to go. You could go with the 20 watt bulb as you suggested and get a good reflector, but even with the best of reflectors out there you are only going to squeek out another 10 watts at the best.
I have not seen any flou bulbs that go over 20 watts in that size so you have to look at the ones that offer that the kind of lighting you need
You can check out a site called Aquarium Hobbyist Supply, They have a retro kit that will give you 110 watts of light(2.5 watts/gallon) for a total cost of about 100.00. You are going to have to put it all together yourself but they go do it yourself tutorials and such and make it easy going
If this is still too much money wise you can get the 20 watt bulb and use some tin foil to make your own reflector. Granted the plants wont grow as much or as fast with this method but you will get growth from them none the less.

HTH


Les

 

[aquatic-store]

go to walmart and buy a lights of america light in the equipment/hardware section. Provides tons of light is 20 - 25 bucks and works awesome