Lighting... is T8 30w on a 3 foot tank enough??

Judder

Hey everyone...

I've just realized I'm running a 30 watt T8 bulb (bought the tank, hood, lighting and filter from my lfs as a deal) on a 3 foot planted tank. I've just made up a DIY CO2 that's bubbling away nicely but I'm now thinking I need more light. I think I'm running at about 1w per gallon...

I really don't want to splash out on a couple of grand T5 set up so what's the alternative? Are there decent T8 bulbs??

Can you get a cheap T5 lighting fixture from bunnings or something and use that??? does it have to be from a proper aquarium shop??

Any help would be awesome!

cheers
Judder

MoneyMitch

i remember stumbleing across something on google about massive amounts of co2 and massive amounts of lighting, cant remember what the method was named though... as far as diy fixtures go take a stroll around home depot or lowes you can always find great inspiration there. Money

volkspider

Enough for what? It depends on what you're trying to grow in there.

fighttest

if your running t8 bulbs and your fixture is 48 in long you could probably do t10 bulbs which are 40 watts each. if youv got a planted tank your going to want life glo 2 bulbs or if you can find them regular life glo but they may have been discontinued

MoneyMitch

not toallt true for the lifeglow2. your going to want to be able to have two diffrent bulbs. for instance i use a powerglow and a lifeglow. the lifglow isnt intense enough to support my plants alone. the powerglow gives a very high blue and a decent red spectrum which the plants use for photosenthisis. if you have a deep tank a highly advise agianst using two lifeglow 2 tubes. just remember you want something that will be intense enough to reach the bottom of the tank where the plants are. the green spectrum is there just to make things look alot better not really any advantage to the fish or plants with green spectrum. happy hunting Money

Byron

For some reason, T5 fixtures are less expensive than regular fixtures for T8 or T10 (same fixture for either). But T5 HO tubes emit much more intense light.

As was mentioned, you should have 3-4 watts per gallon with CO2. This is regular fluorescent tubes; T5 emit more light so less watts will cover it.

I have a 3-foot 33g tank with one tube and it is a 30-inch 25 watt Life-Glo (regular). With CO2 I would consider 3 such tubes, or 1-2 T5 HO tubes. Without sufficient light, your CO2 is wasted because the plants must have everything in balance--light and nutrients which includes CO2, macro-nutrients and micronutrients. You will need regular (perhaps daily) liquid fertilization with more light and CO2 to balance.

Byron.