# lighting a 5.5 gallon tank



## baka (Jan 4, 2006)

Hello,

Need suggestion, I want to grow high light plants on my 5.5 tank and dont know what kind of lights I'm going to put, I dont thing the 14w t5 will do, please advise.

Thanks


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

I prefer compact flourescents, and you will need 20 to 25 watts to grow just about anything and definetley co2 depending on what you are going to grow


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

what do you want to grow? in some/most cases the 14w will work


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

I'd go for 2x14w T5s on different ballasts. Probably not a viable option though, since it'd get costly.

You can go for the Coralife 2x9w fixture, which gives you 18 watts.


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## baka (Jan 4, 2006)

I have a injected co2 system that I used on my previous tank 10gal, since I moved to a smaller tank, its kinda hard to find the right lighting... currently I have the all glass canopy with a 14w GE 9325K and i was thinking of getting the AH supply 36w kit but I think that is an overkill for a 5.5 gallon, If I cannot find the lighting that suites me I think I'm better off building my own lighting system, Currently looking for plywoods so I can make my own canopy and put 2 x 14W T5 lights into it.


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## baka (Jan 4, 2006)

epicfish said:


> I'd go for 2x14w T5s on different ballasts. Probably not a viable option though, since it'd get costly.
> 
> You can go for the Coralife 2x9w fixture, which gives you 18 watts.


To short, tank lenght is 16"


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## General Tso (Aug 7, 2006)

You could use 2 of these. I have them on my open top 5.5 gallon.

Galaxy Aquarium Light, Yellow


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