# 34 Watts in 55 Gallon? How can I increase my wattage?



## tropicalfishlover1220 (Jan 12, 2009)

I want to grow some christmas moss, dwarf hairgrass, and spiral grass but am afraid that 0.6 watts per gallon may be too low. (or is it okay?) And my bulbs are actually florescent. (do these grow plants well?)

I was wondering if there were any ways to increase my wattage, for example, purchasing a high-output light (how do these work anyways? do they give off more watts? but the sticker on the canopy only says 34 watts.. ) If you could recommend some good brands it would be appreciated. I was thinking about Aqua-Glo, but, will it increase my wattage output?

Any help would be appreciated (as you can see I'm far from being a tech guru). Thanks!


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

Watts is part of it but proper spectrum is another. For plants Aqua-glo is a good choice as is Life-glo, or one of each is best. These will help your plants. 

How long are you leaving your lights on during the day? this will play a factor also.


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## tropicalfishlover1220 (Jan 12, 2009)

So light bulbs simply won't increase your wattage?

I'm planning to leave them on 14 hours a day. Is longer = better?


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

In order to increase the amount of light that you have (ie: wattage) you will have to change the whole light canopy. Unfortunately it's not like normal household bulbs where you can swap a 60W bulb for a 100W for example. With flourescents the wattage is in part determined by the ballast housed in the light canopy. The amount of light you have unfortunatley will grow almost nothing, maybe an anubia, but even then it will be extremely slow (ie: a leaf or two a year). Also, longer does not equal better. So basically what you're facing is that if you want to grow some plants at all, you are gonna be forced to upgrade the light canopy that you are using. For a simple low light tank that's easy to maintain you could go with a canopy that has two flourescent bulbs in it and is 4 feet long. That would give you around 70W of light over a 55G tank, which is around 1.3wgp. That's considered a low (or maybe even a very low) light tank, but it will grow quite a few things. Here's the website of my tank which is exactly that, a 55G tank with two 4 foot flourescent bulbs over it providing the lighting (http://www.stonyx.googlepages.com/tankpictures.html). Unfortunately the hair grass though usually requires more light than what two bulbs over your tank will provide, I'm not sure about the other two plants. However, if you get into higher light tank, then you also have to start worrying about CO2 injection, fertilization, proper substrates, etc.

Harry


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## tropicalfishlover1220 (Jan 12, 2009)

lol. a leaf or two a year =(

is there any way I could increase my light without purchasing another canopy? (because I have a brown rimmed one and most are black) for example, using mirrors or providing sunlight during the daytime?


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

You could possibly get a desk lamp with a compact flourescent bulb in it and point it at the tank, but you'd probaly need two or three depending how big of a bulb you use (maybe 2x 23W bulbs). It's not ideal and it might look funny but it would give you more light. As for using sunlight, it's too unpredictable to use without causing algea. The problem is that plants take a while to adapt to changing conditions, algea doesn't take as long. If you're light levels vary from day to day based on sunlight there's a good chance you'll have algea issues in no time. Basically unless you add some sort of other light source, you can't get more light. That light source can be a new light hood, shop lights, desk lamps, etc.

Harry


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## tropicalfishlover1220 (Jan 12, 2009)

would it be better if i replaced them with aqua glo?


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

tropicalfishlover1220 said:


> would it be better if i replaced them with aqua glo?


Unfortunately with the amount of light that you have, changing bulb types (and thus getting different spectrums of light) isn't going to make any noticable difference. It would if you had enough light to grow plants, but not enough light is unfortunately not enough light, no matter what type of light or what type of bulb is used. Sorry.

Harry


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

I am running about 1.4 watts/gallon, and am growing lots of things well. Red Tiger Lotus, Vals, Stargrass(albiet slow) petit anubias, sunset hydro, a huge amazon sword, some dwarf swords. This is working with a aquaglo and a lifeglo combination, every other day dosing a half cap of excel. Substrate is eco-complete, and I have a good cleanup crew.


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## tropicalfishlover1220 (Jan 12, 2009)

Thats great to hear because I'm thinking of getting a life glo with aqua glo too. Could I ask, though, where you bought your eco complete? I've been calling every fish store in toronto but they all don't carry them. Big al's has them for like double the msrp ($30-40), but is there any places that has them for a decent price?


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## redclove (Feb 26, 2008)

I hear you on that one, I got a bag at bigals for I think it was 34.99, then topped it off with regular black gravel. But I need another bag still.

Its pricey, but good stuff. I've heard that an even better solution for plants is to put flourite on the bottom and ecocomplete over it, on top.


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