Lighting upgrade

Originally Posted by beetlebz

do you have a hood at all on the tank? on every 55g ive seen the center brace sits flush with the top and the light or hoods fit right in, or over the brace. I went nuts when I first started planting my tanks, and quantum is right. a wise forum contributor once told me many many moons ago (ill try to dig up the thread) that lighting and supplements was all about balance. High light with no co2 or supplements will fail strike, usually winding up in an algae problem. Low light with high supplements, same deal. I use low light levels (40 watts on my 110g, 30 watts on my 20L, and 36 watts on my 55g) and just a few supplements (ill have to get the name of the food he steered me towards when i get to my parents house tomorrow but i think its plant-gro) and i dose every 2nd or 3rd day with the maintenance dose of excel. Sure, some plants just dont do that well, and everything tends to grow nice and slow, But everything stays nice and green and healthy as long as im good about pruning, and plant feeding.

if you want really high light, you need supplement routine to match, and probably co2 to get the most out of it. Thats fine, but it gets costly and you pretty much need a lawn mower to keep everything cut back :P

Originally Posted by Mikaila31

the standard lighting on a split top 55 is two 15 watt T8's for a total of 30 watts over an 18" deep tank. This is very low lighting. While some can manage plants in these levels I certainly wouldn't put in the effort. Build your own light, it will save you cash and you will learn something in the process

Originally Posted by Mikaila31

at that price I would just get a shop light for $40.... you will need the special extra wide glass tops to go with that hood.

Originally Posted by Jayy

Where would I find a shop light?

Originally Posted by Byron

I believe Mikalia was thinking of these; this is Home Depot in Canada, but the US store will have the same:
Lithonia Lighting | 4' Shop Light | Home Depot Canada

Also available from Lowe's and similar hardware/home improvement stores. My only queston is, will this sit on the tank frame on its own? As you can see, it is intended to be hung from the ceiling which is certainly an option but I prefer fixture that sit on the tank so the light all goes into the tank rather than dispersing into my eyes as I sit in front of the tank. Mikaila will probably know the ansswer.

The glass cover goes under this, sitting down on the lip running around the tank frame on the inside.

You then need two 48-inch T8 tubes, daylight 6500K from Home Depot would work. Phillips or Sylvania, whichever they carry in the US. Phillips calls theirs Daylight Deluxe, not sure what the Sylvania name is. It will be 6500K.