# 2 x 27 watt CF over ten gallon?



## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

i have a bell and howell daylight (6500k) 27 watt CF desk lamp over my ten gallon. The other day i saw one exactly the same sittin on a file cabinet in my pre calculus class and talked my teacher into letting me take it. It was broken so i gutted it out and just took the ballast and the bulb and stuff out. So i figured that i will do the same with the one i already have and make a dual light fixture sorta thing. I have 2 questions about this. 

1. Will 54 watts of 6500k CF be too much of a hassle over a ten gallon tank? Cuz everything already grows fairly fast. (i have moderate to high light plants in there right now and its very densely planted)

2. Will i have to use 2 power cords to get adequate light output? or can i just connect the 2 ballasts to the same 120v power supply cord since i don't want to use 2 timers on this tank.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Ryan


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

ryan10517 said:


> 1. Will 54 watts of 6500k CF be too much of a hassle over a ten gallon tank? Cuz everything already grows fairly fast. (i have moderate to high light plants in there right now and its very densely planted)


Hi Ryan,

More is not always better!

If you are getting good growth, minimum algae, and things are in balance why mess it up? The extra light means extra CO2. more ferts, more water changes, and less margin for error......is that your objective?


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## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

Thats a good point. I guess something that's going well doesn't need to be tampered with. But I do have a dark spot on both sides of my tank and i figured that adding another light and putting one on either side would help that out. I also didn't mention that i have a 20watt halogen small desk lamp sorta thing on the right side of my tank to help out my ludwigia get nice and red. But i'm still contemplating whether or not I'm going to do this (or if i even have the time) im still building the enclosure for my ah supply kit hahaha


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## Viwwo (Oct 30, 2009)

May I ask about that light. What is it? I am shopping for something for my 10g.


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## WeedCali (Mar 6, 2010)

got room to upgrade to a bigger tank? lol, that would be nice over a 20g.


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## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

Viwwo said:


> May I ask about that light. What is it? I am shopping for something for my 10g.


Its called a "Bell & Howell sunlight desk lamp" it uses one 27 watt 6500k 4 pin cfl "fml" type bulb. I'm pretty sure Menards hardware store used to carry them but i'm not sure if they do anymore. If not u can just check ebay and get one cheap off there. Here is a picture of it









hope that helps.

Oh and yea i wish i could upgrade to a 20 gallon. I have enough plants in my ten for at least a 29 hahaha. I just got rid of my 20 high a little bit ago though.


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## 61*north (Jun 20, 2010)

ryan10517 said:


> Will i have to use 2 power cords to get adequate light output? or can i just connect the 2 ballasts to the same 120v power supply cord since i don't want to use 2 timers on this tank.


There shouldn't be a problem at all. Assuming the cord on that fixture is at least 20 gauge wire you've got enough conductor to handle a few lamps of that type on a single circuit. Smaller than 20 gauge is starting to get down into the telephone wire sizing and would be highly unusual for a lamp cord.


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## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

^ that's what i figured. I have some 12 gauge wire that should work just fine. Thanks


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