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When i purchased my 20 gallon, it included a light fixture with only one flourescent bulb attached to a one slot light strip. it has printed on it "Eclipse F15T8 Natural Daylight." Is this any good for plants? Will they grow with just one bulb? pls help me

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The eclipse bulbs do ok IME at growing plants we use those eclipse hoods at the store with plants in them.

However one 15 watt bulb on a 20 gallon tank isn't going to grow much for you. You could probably grow the low light plants like anubias, java fern, java moss, and crypts.

A totally different hood would be needed to put another strip light on, 3 15w bulbs would be sufficient to get you into the medium light plants for a better variety.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks for the ID matty, but i dont plan on using med. light level plants. Java ferns and Anubis are my priority now. 1 Question, is wisteria a med light plant?

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You could always try it, but I would guess it would grow leggy, or maybe not at all under less than 1wpg.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I had some wisteria in 1wpg before and it didn't last. It never really grew and eventually started rotting from the bottom before all of the plants died. Your tank is 5watts short of being 1wpg so I wouldn't try it. I'm not even sure I'd try hornwort. It would probably drop it's needles along the bottom making a mess all over the tank. Unless you add another bulb your pretty much limited to the plants matty first mentioned. Some hardier floating plants might grow but they would shade what little light you have possibly causing the plants deeper in the tank to die from lack of light. If you added one more bulb of the same type you'd be at 1.5wpg which would grow the plants your thinking about trying and still be considered low light. Depending on your hood though you'd probably have to switch it out for a glass top so you could fit another light strip. Getting the light itself is easy. Just go to a hardware store or even a garden store especially around this time of year(it's nearly seed starting time for the northern US) and get a shop light or potted plant growing light that is the same length as your tank. Costs about $10 depending exactly what you get. You might have to replace the bulb but it still comes out cheaper than most light strips sold specifically for aquariums. A certain store nearby charged me $50 for a light that size when I got my first tank.

Hi,
Along the lines of what Sham has mentioned, when you
purchase the light bulb for the new hood, purchase any
bulb that says DAYLIGHT or SUNLIGHT (Day or Sun) in its
name. These bulbs are rated around 6700K and are the best
for viewing fish and growing plants.

When I had my 55G tank, I purchased a two tube shop light
from the local hardware store for 10$ and the tubes were
about the same. Far, far less than the 80-100$ from the
LFS.

Frank


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

I agree with Frank on the shop lamp idea. I have been using cheap shoplamps with aquarrium blubs for sometime now. It is not the best looking idea, but is cheap and effective.

"There is also a Clown Pleco in this tank some where. I am telling you, HE IS IN HERE."