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Hi I've got a 30gal. tall with an all glass cover. Front-to-back its about 12.5inch and side-to-side 24.5inch . I was wondering how I could do a DIY lighting for a planted aquarium. I do have a local home depo but thats about it. I've currently got a 20watt bulb on there but would like to get around 2-4 wpg. Thanks alot.

Hi,
I assume that by DIY you mean that you are going to build
a hood for that tank and in it, house the lighting system.
My 30G tank is 12x26 and I have two 65 watt, 22 inch long,
compact flourscents in it. I run one bulb for 10 hours
and the second for four hours, in the middle of the 10
hour day.

If you built the hood with maybe an inch over hang, then
you could probably use similiar bulbs. Another choice
would to use T-7 bulbs and use several of them in the
hood. A third choice would be to use the screwin
flourscent bulbs that you can purchase at the Home Depot
near you and either mount the vertically or horrizontally
within the hood and wire them in series.

You should include a computer style "muffin" fan at one
end of the narrow sides with a hole at the other end and
a piece of very thing sponge filter at the other. That
gives you cross ventilhation to cool the bulbs and the
sponge will filter out lint and dust.

Frank

Yup it was a typo! Thanks Ben!

Last edited by FRANK at 27-Dec-2005 09:53

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

in the middle of the 19 hour day.

Is that a typo Frank ?

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Frank

Thanks for your help but I'm also wondering about possible light spectrums? I was thinking a red, blue and white light have little experience with these. Help?

Just a plain old Daylight bulb will do fine.Gives all the plants need and still looks attractive.

Spectrum is relatively meaningless to growth, intensity is far more important.

The high K bulbs are more blue and tend to wash out colors, the lower K bulbs look too yellowish and make everything in the tank look sickly.

No need to waste money on fancy bulbs, although a good tri phosphor daylight bulb is worth the extra.

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Hi,
You could go to the LFS or to any hardware store to
purchase your lights. If you choose your local hardware
store, purchase only lights that are labeled DAYLIGHT or
SUNLIGHT. These are rated around 6700K which is perfect
for both plants and for us humans to look at the tanks
critters. As Ben said, many of the so called "plant bulbs"
give off a yellow, or purplish, or even blue, glow and this
tends to washout the various greens of the plants and in
some cases the colors of the fish as well. 6700K is
more of a "white" color and the color rendering is more
natural.

By the way, lights that are labeled WARM or SOFT are
designed for reading.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks a lot. Another question, I was at wal-mart the other day and saw a flourescent "grow light" that was 20 watts but said that that equalled 60 watts? It had a picture of a house plant on it and I was wondering if it would be okay to use that?

Plant _LoveRR,

The light is a 20W light, all said. It might equal an output similar to 60W incandescent lighting, but that is irrelevant here.

Can you use it: I am not sure. I would not buy a light just because there is a plant on the package. Bensaf and FRANK gave you all the information needed to identify the right light (mainly the K value of the bulb).

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Alright thanks, just checking... I'm going out within the next couple of days to buy my new lights! Thanks again.

Hi,
One additional comment... Lights for terrestrial plant
growth are different from those used for aquatic use.
I would not purchase it - unless - you are planning on
having a tank with no top and the plants are to be allowed
to grow out of the water and up into the room. Then, when
the plants break out of the water, you should provide the
Plant grow bulbs for them.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Frank

Thanks, decided against that light anyways. Still waitin to buy the real lights though...

Last edited by Plant _LoveRR at 30-Dec-2005 12:34