Lighting

[geezer]

hello all - i read the posts about lighting and a little bit confused.

I did own lights which were 100 watts, but when i went down the fish store they recommended a

"color intensifier" lightning rod T6 superlux high lumen flourescent lamb (15 watts) .

they said it would help grow plants better than my old lamp.

I got two of these which totals 30 watts, but own 55 gallons. So the WPG is a bit confusing now.

Do I need to get a C02 machine now because it's lower?

Bit confused

 

[geezer]

it was 700 dollars for one of them auto kits with cannister . bit tight here for that

 

[Themuleous]

Humm that advice sounds a bit strange to me. Firstly Ive never heard of T6 lights, did you also have to buy a new starter/ballast for the new bulbs?

What were the old 100w lights like? T8's? How many bulbs did it hold? Surely if it had a standard T8 fitting you'd be better off changing the tubes to plant specific ones? And yes if you stick with the new tubes you'll need to get some more as you're at 0.6WPG which is pretty useless, even for anubias plants.

Also, $700 for a CO2 machine? You can make a DIY one for about $10! Think they might have been talking about a pH controlled CO2 kit thats fully automatic. Unless you're going to get massively into planted tank I don't think that is really what you need.

 

[geezer]

Humm that advice sounds a bit strange to me. Firstly Ive never heard of T6 lights, did you also have to buy a new starter/ballast for the new bulbs?

What were the old 100w lights like? T8's? How many bulbs did it hold? Surely if it had a standard T8 fitting you'd be better off changing the tubes to plant specific ones? And yes if you stick with the new tubes you'll need to get some more as you're at 0.6WPG which is pretty useless, even for anubias plants.

Also, $700 for a CO2 machine? You can make a DIY one for about $10! Think they might have been talking about a pH controlled CO2 kit thats fully automatic. Unless you're going to get massively into planted tank I don't think that is really what you need.

This is the lamp I got. http/www.bigalsonline.ca/catalog/product...ategory_id=4010

I'm not sure how to make my own CO2 kit

 

[TimJ]

Hi Geezer

Plans and guidelines for diy CO2 are here:www.thekrib.com/plants/CO2/

Also Nutrafin make a fairly inexpensive system though the reaction bottle is a little small.

Lots of luck with this, it can get a bit challenging I must say, just adding my 3 DIY bottle.

Tim

 

[geezer]

Hi Geezer

Plans and guidelines for diy CO2 are here:www.thekrib.com/plants/CO2/

Also Nutrafin make a fairly inexpensive system though the reaction bottle is a little small.

Lots of luck with this, it can get a bit challenging I must say, just adding my 3 DIY bottle.

Tim

thanks very much tim! i'll check that link out now. i'm a bit clumsy but i'm willing to give it a try out. I'll get the nutrafin one if i mess up