# Newbie Freshwater Plant Light Question



## eylk (Dec 15, 2007)

Hello,

I tried reading on all the watts, kevins, lumens, nanometer, etc but found it too difficult to understand.
I only know that I should have about 2-3 watts per gallons and 6500K to 10000K for kevins. Also, different types of light bulbs, E.g T12, T8 , etc.. are too confusing for me.

I plan to grow only the 'very easy' plants, E.g 
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/ 
(select 'very easy' for hardiness )

Can anyone recommend a good and suitable type of plant light bulb for me?

Do all the plant light 'stands' have the same pins for plant light bulbs? Can I just get a plant light 'stand' and then change the light bulbs if and when I want to? (Perhaps, I might want to convert my aquarium into a planted tank in the future and need to change my type of light bulb tubes.)

Thanks


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## j66213b (May 12, 2008)

for me i like coralife 6500k set ups i have had prolific growth with that light and i do compressed c02 and about 2.5-3wpg


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## eylk (Dec 15, 2007)

hmmmm how bout you recommend me something from http://www.arcadia-uk.info/product.php?mid=10&lan=en&sub=&id=4

?

I do not need CO2 because my plants can do with it!

thanks


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

How big is your tank? The amount of light you need will depend on how big your tank is. For the plants on the "very easy" list you can get by with 2 wpg.



eylk said:


> Do all the plant light 'stands' have the same pins for plant light bulbs? Can I just get a plant light 'stand' and then change the light bulbs if and when I want to? (Perhaps, I might want to convert my aquarium into a planted tank in the future and need to change my type of light bulb tubes.)


I'm not certain I understand what you're asking. Each light fixture has certain types of bulbs that will fit in it. So my Satellite 65 watt Compact Fluorescent fixture can use any color temperature of 65 watt bulbs, but I can't use a higher wattage bulb or a different type of bulb like a regular fluorescent. With the CF fixtures there are also square pin and straight pin fixtures and bulbs and you need to get the right type of bulb for the fixture or buy an adapter so you can use the other type of bulb.


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## GIfishguy (May 6, 2008)

If your going to use simple plants and easy plants you don't need to go over board with the lights. I have a simple set up of T8 6500K florecent lights (home depot daylight bulbs with standard shop light fixtures). It depends on how fancy you want to get. T12 bulbs are bigger diameter and give off more Watts. I'm shure there are a lot of people that would disagree with that choice but I tell you what, It's cheap, they work great for me, and its great to start with. People that I buy plants from that do very well have the same thing.


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## ericpop27 (May 13, 2008)

I have a similar question...

I have my light timed to be on from 8AM to 11PM...is that too much? I have 1.5 wpg from the standard bulbs that came with my Eclipse Hood.

Is it even possible to increase watts per gallon without adding MORE lightbulbs or buying a different hood?

I did some reading and I think that instead of WPG I will concentrate on the spectrum. I want to get two actinic bulbs with 6500k...will that be better than the standard bulbs my Eclipse Hood came with?


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## SongCloud (Aug 30, 2005)

ericpop27 said:


> I have a similar question...
> 
> I have my light timed to be on from 8AM to 11PM...is that too much? I have 1.5 wpg from the standard bulbs that came with my Eclipse Hood.
> 
> ...


In response to the above:

8am to 11pm is a bit too much, even at 1.5 wpg. I would limit the light cycle to about 10-12 hours and increase from there if needed.

What kind of Eclipse hood do you have? It might be possible to get a better light spectrum from the hood that you have. I do not know of any way to get more WPG from just swapping bulbs. You would need to go CF or t5.

Acrinic bulbs will have little to no effect on a planted tank. The bulbs are too deep into the blue part of the spectrum. I would recommend going with a 10,000K bulb if you want to get a better spectrum, although 6500K regular bulbs seems to be fine.

What kind of tank are you using this hood over and what kind of plants are you growing? Do you plan on growing any different plants? What kind of soil? Co2 injection? These details will help us figure out if you even need to upgrade the lighting for what you plan on growing.


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## ericpop27 (May 13, 2008)

I am running an Eclipse 2 hood. It's a 20 gallon aquarium. I am using regular aquarium gravel and supplementing with Flourish. I plan on buying Flourish Excel. I have DIY CO2 running through a small powerhead.

The only plants I have are Amazon Swords, but I plan on purchasing Dwarf Baby Tears, Crystal Wort, and Aponogetons Ulvaceus.

This is the light I plan on purchasing. I will have two of these in 18" size.


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## SongCloud (Aug 30, 2005)

Sorry I wasn't able to respond sooner. Those bulbs will not do what you need/want them to do. They are made for marine tanks to simulate deep-water environments. They will not provide enough light in the red/green parts of the spectrum to be as useful as possible to your plants. Also, it seems it is only available in T12, and your eclipse hood uses T8 bulbs, so T12 might not fit in the hood correctly, or may touch the plastic hood and result in melting or fires.

This one might work better.


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## jmontee (Feb 7, 2008)

Either one of those bulbs are way out of the range that is mainly usable by plants. I would recommend no higher than 10000K for any planted tank. The only way to increase light in a tank is by increasing wattage or improving the reflector efficiency. Most people do not mess with the reflectors if you don't do DIY stuff. I have read on one of the forums how someone modified the lighting in an eclipse tank, you will have to search. You will have to fidure out the wattage rating for the hood or go to different lights.


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## LetDiceFly (May 30, 2008)

This is what I used to upgrade the lighting in my Eclipse hood.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+9656+12775&pcatid=12775


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## LetDiceFly (May 30, 2008)

Oh I forgot, you would also have to get the proper bulbs, it comes with the wrong kind of bulb, but DFS also sells 6,700/10,000K bulbs.


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