HiL
My husband wants to play macho like he's not really interested in my having an aquarium. He asked me this morning if by using another wattage and type of bulb for the plants if it would be too much heat on my fish.
Full Version: Plants/fish
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HiL
My husband wants to play macho like he's not really interested in my having an aquarium. He asked me this morning if by using another wattage and type of bulb for the plants if it would be too much heat on my fish.
HiL
My husband wants to play macho like he's not really interested in my having an aquarium. He asked me this morning if by using another wattage and type of bulb for the plants if it would be too much heat on my fish.
As long as it Fluorescent lighting it should be just fine 
QUOTE(koko @ Sep 25 2004, 10:13 AM)
As long as it Fluorescent lighting it should be just fine
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Hi:
I don't want the flourescent light to be too hot for my fish. I have a plant grow light. My aquarium is 20 gallons and I have a 15 wattage light. I don't know what type of wattage I need for low or high light plants. When I do the division I get something like 1.33.
They type/color of the bulb (clear white vs plant grow vs whatever) won't make much of a difference, its the wattage. A 15 watt light isn't even 1 watt per gallon on a 20 gallon tank, its more like .75 watts per gallon. There aren't many plants that will grow at that level.
Generally low light plants are less than 1.5 watts per gallon (or 30 watts for your tank)
Mid-light are 1.5-2.5ish
High light plants are over 2.5 watts per gallon, though then you have to worry about supplimenting CO2, etc.
What live plants do you currently have? Java fern and java moss, some crypts, anubias and a few other plants like anacharis will survive at the lighting you have but most likely you won't see a whole lot of growth.
You can look at changing your fixture though, either to a double strip light (holds 2 15 watt bulbs) or... You can buy power compact lights but they are not cheap and you'd have to completely change over, you can't use those bulbs in the fixture you have now. But they do not get any more hot than standard flourescants. These actually get the best growth out of plants IMO.
What are the dimentions of your tank? Usually 20 gallon tanks are 24" or 30", so you should be able to get a fixture that will hold 2 20watt bulbs easily enough. Or a 55 or 65 watt power compact. Not sure why you'd be using a 15 watt bulb/fixture unless its either a 20X Tall or it really isn't 20 gallons...
As far as heat, you are talking about flourescant tube bulbs right? Not the screw in incandescent ones? The screw in ones *can* put out quite a bit of heat.
Generally low light plants are less than 1.5 watts per gallon (or 30 watts for your tank)
Mid-light are 1.5-2.5ish
High light plants are over 2.5 watts per gallon, though then you have to worry about supplimenting CO2, etc.
What live plants do you currently have? Java fern and java moss, some crypts, anubias and a few other plants like anacharis will survive at the lighting you have but most likely you won't see a whole lot of growth.
You can look at changing your fixture though, either to a double strip light (holds 2 15 watt bulbs) or... You can buy power compact lights but they are not cheap and you'd have to completely change over, you can't use those bulbs in the fixture you have now. But they do not get any more hot than standard flourescants. These actually get the best growth out of plants IMO.
What are the dimentions of your tank? Usually 20 gallon tanks are 24" or 30", so you should be able to get a fixture that will hold 2 20watt bulbs easily enough. Or a 55 or 65 watt power compact. Not sure why you'd be using a 15 watt bulb/fixture unless its either a 20X Tall or it really isn't 20 gallons...
As far as heat, you are talking about flourescant tube bulbs right? Not the screw in incandescent ones? The screw in ones *can* put out quite a bit of heat.
QUOTE(Myaj @ Oct 12 2004, 09:48 AM)
They type/color of the bulb (clear white vs plant grow vs whatever) won't make much of a difference, its the wattage. A 15 watt light isn't even 1 watt per gallon on a 20 gallon tank, its more like .75 watts per gallon. There aren't many plants that will grow at that level.
Generally low light plants are less than 1.5 watts per gallon (or 30 watts for your tank)
Mid-light are 1.5-2.5ish
High light plants are over 2.5 watts per gallon, though then you have to worry about supplimenting CO2, etc.
What live plants do you currently have? Java fern and java moss, some crypts, anubias and a few other plants like anacharis will survive at the lighting you have but most likely you won't see a whole lot of growth.
You can look at changing your fixture though, either to a double strip light (holds 2 15 watt bulbs) or... You can buy power compact lights but they are not cheap and you'd have to completely change over, you can't use those bulbs in the fixture you have now. But they do not get any more hot than standard flourescants. These actually get the best growth out of plants IMO.
What are the dimentions of your tank? Usually 20 gallon tanks are 24" or 30", so you should be able to get a fixture that will hold 2 20watt bulbs easily enough. Or a 55 or 65 watt power compact. Not sure why you'd be using a 15 watt bulb/fixture unless its either a 20X Tall or it really isn't 20 gallons...
As far as heat, you are talking about flourescant tube bulbs right? Not the screw in incandescent ones? The screw in ones *can* put out quite a bit of heat.
Generally low light plants are less than 1.5 watts per gallon (or 30 watts for your tank)
Mid-light are 1.5-2.5ish
High light plants are over 2.5 watts per gallon, though then you have to worry about supplimenting CO2, etc.
What live plants do you currently have? Java fern and java moss, some crypts, anubias and a few other plants like anacharis will survive at the lighting you have but most likely you won't see a whole lot of growth.
You can look at changing your fixture though, either to a double strip light (holds 2 15 watt bulbs) or... You can buy power compact lights but they are not cheap and you'd have to completely change over, you can't use those bulbs in the fixture you have now. But they do not get any more hot than standard flourescants. These actually get the best growth out of plants IMO.
What are the dimentions of your tank? Usually 20 gallon tanks are 24" or 30", so you should be able to get a fixture that will hold 2 20watt bulbs easily enough. Or a 55 or 65 watt power compact. Not sure why you'd be using a 15 watt bulb/fixture unless its either a 20X Tall or it really isn't 20 gallons...
As far as heat, you are talking about flourescant tube bulbs right? Not the screw in incandescent ones? The screw in ones *can* put out quite a bit of heat.
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Hi:
The 15 watt is supposed to be a plant lamp that I purchased from PetSmart. I haven't been able to find anything else.
QUOTE(luvryukin @ Oct 12 2004, 01:07 PM)
QUOTE(Myaj @ Oct 12 2004, 09:48 AM)
They type/color of the bulb (clear white vs plant grow vs whatever) won't make much of a difference, its the wattage. A 15 watt light isn't even 1 watt per gallon on a 20 gallon tank, its more like .75 watts per gallon. There aren't many plants that will grow at that level.
Generally low light plants are less than 1.5 watts per gallon (or 30 watts for your tank)
Mid-light are 1.5-2.5ish
High light plants are over 2.5 watts per gallon, though then you have to worry about supplimenting CO2, etc.
What live plants do you currently have? Java fern and java moss, some crypts, anubias and a few other plants like anacharis will survive at the lighting you have but most likely you won't see a whole lot of growth.
You can look at changing your fixture though, either to a double strip light (holds 2 15 watt bulbs) or... You can buy power compact lights but they are not cheap and you'd have to completely change over, you can't use those bulbs in the fixture you have now. But they do not get any more hot than standard flourescants. These actually get the best growth out of plants IMO.
What are the dimentions of your tank? Usually 20 gallon tanks are 24" or 30", so you should be able to get a fixture that will hold 2 20watt bulbs easily enough. Or a 55 or 65 watt power compact. Not sure why you'd be using a 15 watt bulb/fixture unless its either a 20X Tall or it really isn't 20 gallons...
As far as heat, you are talking about flourescant tube bulbs right? Not the screw in incandescent ones? The screw in ones *can* put out quite a bit of heat.
Generally low light plants are less than 1.5 watts per gallon (or 30 watts for your tank)
Mid-light are 1.5-2.5ish
High light plants are over 2.5 watts per gallon, though then you have to worry about supplimenting CO2, etc.
What live plants do you currently have? Java fern and java moss, some crypts, anubias and a few other plants like anacharis will survive at the lighting you have but most likely you won't see a whole lot of growth.
You can look at changing your fixture though, either to a double strip light (holds 2 15 watt bulbs) or... You can buy power compact lights but they are not cheap and you'd have to completely change over, you can't use those bulbs in the fixture you have now. But they do not get any more hot than standard flourescants. These actually get the best growth out of plants IMO.
What are the dimentions of your tank? Usually 20 gallon tanks are 24" or 30", so you should be able to get a fixture that will hold 2 20watt bulbs easily enough. Or a 55 or 65 watt power compact. Not sure why you'd be using a 15 watt bulb/fixture unless its either a 20X Tall or it really isn't 20 gallons...
As far as heat, you are talking about flourescant tube bulbs right? Not the screw in incandescent ones? The screw in ones *can* put out quite a bit of heat.
[FONT=Times][SIZE=7][COLOR=purple]
Hi:
The 15 watt is supposed to be a plant lamp that I purchased from PetSmart. I haven't been able to find anything else.
[FONT=Times][SIZE=7][COLOR=orange]
Hi:
What if I put a compact bulb in a lamp and angle it towards the aquarium?
It would depend on how much light actually reaches the tank. If you over do it, you'll just have a tank full of algae. If you can aim for the 2 watts per gallon, you'd be okay, but you have to remember, incandescent and flourescent produce much different types of light, so it has to be compact flourescent and not a regular light bulb.
I would be somewhat concerned with the light distribution, tank hoods have reflectors for a reason, to aim almost all the light from the bulb down into the tank. Its rather hard to do that with a lamp, a lot of the light gets "wasted" by being aimed out into the rest of the room, plus its sort of distracting to look at a tank and have a lamp shining in your eyes.
Personally I'd just get a better fixture from Big Al's or That Pet Place, the lamp might work but most likely will just cause a glare, make it hard to see into the tank and grow algae. Something like this:
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/produc...id1=1843;pcid2=
That one is $35 and holds 2 20 watt bulbs. Of course its for a tank that is 24" wide though, so you'd have to see how wide your tank is.
I've debated using a little 100 watt halogen lamp I have for a planted tank, but that thing puts out an incredible amount of heat.
I would be somewhat concerned with the light distribution, tank hoods have reflectors for a reason, to aim almost all the light from the bulb down into the tank. Its rather hard to do that with a lamp, a lot of the light gets "wasted" by being aimed out into the rest of the room, plus its sort of distracting to look at a tank and have a lamp shining in your eyes.
Personally I'd just get a better fixture from Big Al's or That Pet Place, the lamp might work but most likely will just cause a glare, make it hard to see into the tank and grow algae. Something like this:
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/produc...id1=1843;pcid2=
That one is $35 and holds 2 20 watt bulbs. Of course its for a tank that is 24" wide though, so you'd have to see how wide your tank is.
I've debated using a little 100 watt halogen lamp I have for a planted tank, but that thing puts out an incredible amount of heat.
Or of course watch eBay for double strip lights, or check local stores for a "used" section...
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