# Newbie Question on light



## dreamhunter1 (Oct 18, 2008)

Hello Everyone I read the sticky on light and I am totally lost. I have 2 tanks I would like to change the lighting in. One os a 55 gal tank that has a few plants and teh other one is a 10 gal plant that is planted about 50%. Both tanks only have the lights that came witht eh hoods. I asked the salesperson at my Petsmart but they were of no help, what kind of lights should I get to help with plant growth?? I have seen some that say good for marine tanks but nothing that specifically says good for plants. I don't even know what to look for other than the lenth of lighting tube I need. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## sawman88 (Sep 29, 2008)

is it a floressant lamp or indocessant? i think the daylight t12 bulbs are the best out there. thats what i use anyway and i can grow a pretty good plant.) there are also other highoutput units that you can get but all i know about them is that they are super $$$ but work amazing. i think a good rule is.... 3 W per gallon? maybe its 2W per gallon... and lol at pets mart people not knowing much about aquariums and fish. i went in there once and asked for a spong filter.. and they looked at me as if i were from space. .. although i am sure there are some very compatent people working at pets mart's across canada.,


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## dreamhunter1 (Oct 18, 2008)

I have a 15 watt blub (well 2 of them) in my 10 gal and it said not to go over 15 watts but it didn't say what kind of a bulb it is. On the 55 gal tank The bulbs say natural daylightF15T8 18" and another place said they were 17 watts. They are florescent in the 55gal and incandessent in the 10 gal. I wanted to buy some plants the other day (other than java ferns ) and the people at petsmart told me I neded better lighting than what comes witht he tank kits but couldn;t tell me what I should have


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

I think 2W per gallon is sufficient, using 6500K bulbs. A little more won't hurt, but a lot more won't be necessary unless you're dosing CO2.

It would still be better to find dedicated lighting system for aquarium such as coralife T5 units for both looks and plant growth, but spirals should work well on 10G. I have many of my 10G tanks with 6500K spirals and works very well.


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## sawman88 (Sep 29, 2008)

are there 4 17 Watt bulbs? that might not bee to bad you can get some low light plants. i made my own canopy useing two two bulb shop lights getting me about 3 W per gallon on my 55. it works increadably well. i used to use CO2 but it stopped working for some reason :/


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

If you want plant growth, get T5s or PCs. Coralife makes fixtures that are good enough for planted tanks. I have had no issues with them.


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## sawman88 (Sep 29, 2008)

hummm just out of curiusity.. the difference between T 12 , T8 ad now T5 flouressant bulbs do they all create aobut the same amount of light? just the smaller the number the less energy used to create the same amount of light? I use T12 bulbs simply because i can get the fixtures for free.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

The t12's are 12/8" or 1 1/2 inch diameter tube. 
T8's are 8/8 or 1" in diameter tube.
T5's are 5/8" in diameter tube.
Check out the chart halfway down called; Breakdown of bulbs efficiency:
http://woo.gotdns.com/Aquarium/Lighting.htm
More good reading here: http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html


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## dreamhunter1 (Oct 18, 2008)

Ok I was just at Petsmart again and they only had the marine lights that i mentioned earlier and something called Flora Glo, it is 2800k (whatever that is) it is 15w and is a T8 do you think that would be bett er than the lights that came with the tank. It came with 2 natural daylight T8 bulbs


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Photosynthetically speaking, the 2800k bulbs provide a redder light which is more useful in terms of photosynthesis.

Aesthetically, the mid range K value bulbs (6500) tend to look best. 

Oh yeah, K or Kelvin is the color 'temperature' of the light. The higher the number, the bluer it is, the lower, the redder. Planted tanks generally have bulbs between 3500 and 10000K.

As for your light situation, I'd 1: get a better store, as petsmart is one of the worst. Where is your location? I'm sure we could point you to a better local one. 2: Get a glass top and a light fixture. Even if you're not going all out planted, it's best to have good lights, and IMO, T5s are the way of the future (I'm on a T5 bend right now...waiting for a new fixture to arrive myself....)


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