# for the love of god, please help!



## Lydia Rose (Feb 13, 2010)

Does anyone know where I can get higher wattage than 15w for a 10g?!
Someone told me they dont make anything higher than that for the 10g hood. 
No one so far seems to be able to tell me anything at any LFS. 

Also, is the fluval edge standard halogen lights sufficient for a heavily planted tank? My guess is a resounding NO, but I'd love to have some wise Plantmonger's advice!!

Thank you in advance!


----------



## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

20" 96cf coralife. buahaha hows that for light.

http://www.aloha-aquariums.com/servlet/the-192/Coralife-Aqualight-Fixture-20/Detail

hope that helps


----------



## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

A couple other options:

Coralife 12" Aqualight 2x18W
Nova Extreme SLR T-5 2x18W

Unless you can find a freshwater version you may need to replace the bulbs in some of these fixtures, at least the actinic bulb...

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio


----------



## nokturnalkid (Feb 27, 2007)

If you want high light and if you have co2, ahsupply sells a 1x36w kit that will fit into a stock 10g hood.


----------



## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

more power!!!! go with the 96 watter


----------



## londonloco (Sep 25, 2005)

I have two 10W spiral CF's that fit in my 10G hood light sockets. BUT, all I have growing in there is anubias, wisteria, java fern and java moss. I dose Excel daily, works for my set up.


----------



## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

I think 36W is more than enough for a 10g... specially with those plants and using Excel.


----------



## SCU33ZE (Feb 16, 2010)

96 watt 20'' coralife is power!!. I am selling one on ebay right now, go and check it. 70 dollars, Cheep, few weeks of use.

Be sure to have Pressurized co2 and be on top of nutrients because its a very strong light.

As for the edge, Hagen should slap themselves for equipping it with halogens. Too much heat and yellow light .I have seen LED replacements online that are plug and play for the Fluval Edge. Just make sure they are a usable spectrum. There are different wattages available.
Also the light in the Edge is very centered due to the design of the tank, so place the most demanding plants toward the center.


----------



## nokturnalkid (Feb 27, 2007)

doubleott05 said:


> more power!!!! go with the 96 watter


Hehe...I hear a grunt coming on.


----------



## Lydia Rose (Feb 13, 2010)

do i need all that light for a 10g? im not very informed on lighting and wattage and kelvins and such. so very complicated. im much better than the chemistry part. 
will all that light bother my goldfish?


----------



## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

Not at all... 2x18W watts is more than you'll ever need in my opinion. If the fixture has separate switches for the two bulbs even better as that would easily allow you to switch between 18W and 32W if needed.

96W is overkill and would be difficult to manage, I have to think it was mentioned as more of a joke than a true suggestion 

Giancarlo


----------



## Lydia Rose (Feb 13, 2010)

the lighting is confusing. lfs only sells 15watt for 20'' hood. i need to look online but theyre SO expensive! like a $100 for just the hood!


----------



## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

The Nova Extreme I linked to earlier costs $52 and you'd only need to replace the actinic bulb with a $10-15 bulb of your choice...

Otherwise add a second 15W fixture to what you already have. If you have the glass lids you should have just enough room to do so...

Hope that helps
Giancarlo


----------



## trag (Jan 9, 2008)

Do like an earlier poster suggested and get a hood with incandescent fixtures such as this:

$24 http://www.petblvd.com/cgi-bin/pb/PER77205.html?mv_pc=froogle

Then some light bulbs such as these:

$3, 5000K, 14 watt
http://www.1000bulbs.com/14-Watt-5000-Kelvin-Compact-Fluorescents/

or these:

$3.25, 6500K 13 watt
http://www.1000bulbs.com/13-Watt-CFL-6500K-Full-Spectrum-Daylight/

or these:

~$4, 5000K 23 watt
http://www.1000bulbs.com/23-Watt-Compact-Fluorescent-5000-Kelvin/


----------



## londonloco (Sep 25, 2005)

I bought two of these for $4.88 each:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lights-of-America-10-Watt-Mini-Fluorescent-Aquarium-Bulb-1-ct/10448675

This 10g has only been set up a month, houses 2 cpo's, one oto, and 6 males endlers, lights on 10 hours a day. No algae so far, new growth on wisteria, java ferns sprouting babies, anubias looking good (all low light plants). I'm not sure if these lights are good for the long term, but due to the price, I'm giving them a try.


----------



## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

I know where a used 96w Aqualight with a 6700K bulb is. PM me if interested. It was on a 15g tall. You need good CO2 and ferts.


----------



## xJaypex (Jul 22, 2009)

this is what i have on my Fluval edge


----------



## Lydia Rose (Feb 13, 2010)

left c- isnt that a bit too much light for a 10g?

trag- i didnt know you can use those lights for an aquarium. could i just get a standing lamp and use those lights above in addition to the 15w i have on there now?

xjaypex- what is that? is there a site i can go to for diy fluval mods?


----------



## trag (Jan 9, 2008)

Lydia Rose said:


> trag- i didnt know you can use those lights for an aquarium. could i just get a standing lamp and use those lights above in addition to the 15w i have on there now?


Yes. The light may not be as efficiently directed into the tank as with a hood, but that will work fine.

Back in high school I built a wooden tripod, suspended a spot light fixture with ball and socket joint from the top of it and pointed a gro-lux spot light into the front of my 20 gallon tank. It wasn't pretty but the plants liked it.

As long as the light goes into the tank, it doesn't really matter what source the light comes from. Or rather, the source only affects things that the human may care about like the electricity bill and the appearance. The plants don't care as long as they're getting the light.

There are also CF spotlights. Take a stroll through the light builb section at Home Depot. You could suspend something like a 70 watt (equivalent, really about 14 or 15 watts) CF spotlight over the tank.


----------



## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

Here's a similar example:










Giancarlo


----------



## BJRuttenberg (Sep 25, 2005)

Current Orbit 2x40w (80w Total).

Do you need that much light for a 10 gal.? Probably not, but it sure makes things a hell of a lot easier...I'm running one on my 10gal. esp. if you're growing/trying to grow high light plants. The whole watts per gal. rule breaks down when you get around the 10-15 gal aquarium arena.


----------



## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

I have a 2x40w Orbit as well. It's reflector is as good as the side-by-side 2x36w reflector that AHSupply used to carry.

Here's the 2x36w AHSupply kit. http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm


----------



## Lydia Rose (Feb 13, 2010)

BJRuttenberg said:


> Current Orbit 2x40w (80w Total).
> The whole watts per gal. rule breaks down when you get around the 10-15 gal aquarium arena.


what do you mean that it breaks down around 10-15g? i only have some 15w fluor on a 10. i dont want to kill any plants. ive gotten so many suggestions that my head is spinning! by all means, a resounding thank you! but it so confusing. 
i thought coralife was for marines...?


----------



## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

Lydia, the WPG rule changes as tank size changes. Large tanks (by volume) need less WPG to perform similarly to smaller tanks with higher WPG ratings. For example 1WPG on a 90g tank can grow plants quite well, while 1WPG on a 55g tends to be a little too low for most plants. Tanks in the 10g and lower range tend to need more WPGs to perform the same, for example I have 18W on a 2.5g tank where I grow HC in, that's 7.2WPG and it performs similarly to my 55g with 3WPG.

I think you need to step back for a minute and let us know a couple things:

- Are you up to a DIY project and working with electricity or are you looking for a ready-made fixture?
- What is your goal with this tank?
- Are you planning on using CO2 and committing to a fast growing fertilization method such as EI?

I think this will likely help us make more accurate suggestions. The AHSupply kits are great and quite simple to hook up, but you'll need to retrofit it into a hood or an existing fixture...

As for ready made fixtures, the choices in this size are few unfortunately, you basically have 18W, 36W and 96W to choose from. 18W would be a small improvement, 36W would land you in a sweat spot in my opinion and still allow a little room for error in managing the tank. 96W would put you in the "hard-core" category, one most of us have to try at one point in time, but it's no walk in the park!

A cheap alternative would be to find an older dual incandescent fixture and replace the light bulbs with spiral compact fluorescents. Two 13W bulbs for example would be worth trying. They come in various power ratings such as 11W, 13W, 23W and so forth... Besides being cheap, you have the added flexibility of trying a variety of bulb wattages.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio


----------

