# Lighting Fixture for 10g Low Tech Planted Tank



## Ravaillac (Mar 13, 2013)

I'm looking for ideas on what sort of fixture to buy/build. I'm having a heck of a time finding a good fixture that will a) fit a 10 gallon, and b) not turn my low tech tank into an algae farm.

It will have to have mounting brackets so it can sit on the tank in a raised position. I do not have a glass cover, nor do I want one as I have found that the humidity will kill my frogbit. I can't have a hanging fixture.

I want a good reflector, but I'm not looking to spend more than a $100 on the whole thing. I would prefer T5s, not necessarily HO. Definitely not LED.

Here's the thing: Every fixture I've found for a 10g (okay, there's just two, from Coralife and Odyssea) has way too much light for a tank whose only CO2 is Excel. HO lamps would make my algae happy, but the plants not so much. Even the one NO fixture I found has 38 watts total- again, happy algae.

I'm okay with using non-T5s, but the only fixtures I've seen are those cheapo strips that have to sit on a glass top. And those don't have _enough_ light.

So what can I do to have a decent light fixture for a 10g that won't be overkill on wattage? I feel like I must be missing something...


----------



## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Ravaillac,

I currently have a low tech, non-CO2 10 gallon on my desk. I am using the standard two socket incandescent strip light on it with two 10 watt cfl 6500K bulbs from Walmart. The photoperiod is about 9 hours. Substrate is Safe-T-Sorb #7941; I dose EI at about 1/2 dose along with Excel for carbon. This is the result:


----------



## Ravaillac (Mar 13, 2013)

Looks very nice. Do you remember where you got the strip? The only strips I've seen take one tube, I'm assuming T8, and they never provide enough wattage. Unless I got two strips.

How do you have the strip above the tank? Does it have a protective cover over the lamps?

My current lighting is with a full hood using using two 13w 6500K cfls from Lowes. I dislike having a full hood, though, and the reflector is terrible. I could try to make it better with some mylar, but the full hood is a PITA. Despite the wattage I currently have, my cabomba is very leggy, which, to me, indicates not enough light. Of course, my cfls are the corkscrew type (all the hood will take) which I've heard are not as efficient as the type you have.

If I could find a strip like yours, though, that take the longer cfls, I think that would do nicely.


----------



## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Ravaillac,

It is a standard 20" strip light for a 10 gallon with two incandescent sockets similar to the one below only with the bulbs referenced above. I do have a glass top on the tank. The PAR reading with the two 10 watt bulbs is approximately PAR=25 but as you can see even with 'low light' you can grow a nice variety of plants.


----------



## Ravaillac (Mar 13, 2013)

Thanks. I did find the fixture you have. I'd just have to figure out how to put a lens cover on and mount it somehow. I was really hoping to avoid the DIY route, laziness I guess. But I suspect that I will end up using your type fixture.

Does anyone know what would happen if I put one 18w T5 HO bulb over a low tech ten gallon? Still algae city?


----------



## Zoombob (Mar 13, 2013)

Ravaillac, here is a link for you: http://www.petfenceusa.com/haglot5holis1.html?productid=haglot5holis1&channelid=FROOG#.UjnXvH1lDML

...though for less you can get a dual t5, and just use one bulb. Read on.

Boy, I wish I'd read this thread before I ordered the AquariumLife dual T5 HO fixture!

I had been using 2 2700k bulbs, 13 watts each, but the plants weren't growing and the algae was. So, today I replaced them with 2 Ultra Sun cfl bulbs (made by Zoo Med), each is 10 watts, 6500k. Looks bluer, but not as bright, which makes sense, since there's 6 watts fewer now.

So I made the executive decision to get a HO fixture designed for a planted tank. But it sounds, from this thread, that I will have way too much light. I can always replace the bulbs, I suppose, with NO T5's, with just a single bulb.

Are two HO bulbs going to be a problem? One is T5 HO 18W 6,000K, the other is T5 HO 18W Roseate. TIA for your advice.


----------

