Lighting The 36 Gallon Aqueon Bow Front

[musicalfish]

I've recently purchased the "Aqueon Deluxe 36 Gallon Bow Front" kit because I'm a sucker for sales and have been looking to get a bigger aquarium. I set it up with all the included components (heater, filter, plastic hood) and chose gravel as a substrate. Now I plan to make this tank planted, so I decided to investigate the lighting. Turns out the lighting fixture is equipped to hold 1 T-8 24" 17 watt fluorescent, which according to the research I've done, falls drastically short of the required 1-2 watts/gallon required to pump light into even a low-lighting plant. Now I know I need to improve the lighting somehow, but I'd prefer to keep the rest of the hood intact, while just replacing the lighting fixture that sits on a gap in the plastic, on top of a piece of glass. Are there any fixtures that would fit this slot on my hood? It's 30" in length, and the slot where the fixture sets is 4" wide. I've also noticed that the 24" T-8 sized bulbs really only pump out up to 20 watts each, so if there's a double strip fixture that fits this slot, would I just be getting by with 40 watts, or would it be better to fine a T-5 bulb fixture that would fit? Is there anyway to make this work, or am I doomed to cash out for a renovation?

I'm a newbie to planted tanks, so any advice is appreciated!

 

[StandbySetting]

The Watt's per gallon rule is based on the old T12 tubes, adding an additional 17 Watt T8 would be sufficient for low light plants, you can do this by buying another ballast (something like an Arcadia T8 17 watt single tube unit) and screwing the sockets into the existing hood, and then fitting a bulb, it's quite an easy process but can only be done if space permits.

Presuming you're in the UK an Arcadia ballast and a tube to go with it should cost you no more than £20-30

 

[musicalfish]

I'm in Canada, but I'm sure I can find a similar product. So as long as I have two 17 watt T-8 bulbs I should be good to go then? Any recommendations as to which of the tons of bulb types are best for my situation? Last time I was at LFS I noticed their extensive stock of the "Glo" series- are there any huge differences between these bulbs, or am I just buying into a marketing tool if I purchase the "Flora-Glo" as opposed to the "Power-Glo"? I was actually looking at the specifications of the Flora-Glo, they don't have much in terms of the red wavelengths, and only have a colour spectrum of 2700K, opposed to the 6500K I've been reading is preferable for planted tanks. Does it really make a difference, and if so why is this bulb marketed for growing plants?

Thanks again for any help

 

[StandbySetting]

Don't get bulbs from your LFS, get them from a hardware store they're the same, look for a bulb with a colour temperature of about 8000 Kelvin, this will give you a nice white day light colour.

Plants will utilise any light, buying plant specific bulbs is not necessary, they're simply a marketing ploy.

 

[musicalfish]

Right on, thanks for your help!