Tu13es

I currently have a 29 gallon tank with a few plants and DIY CO2. For light, I have a 24" 20w fluorescent tube. I have a few more plants on the way and realize that my lighting could stand to be a bit brighter, both for the plants and for looks.

So I guess my options are:

-Buy a dual-bulb fluorescent fixture and use two of the bulbs I already have
-Buy a single/dual T5 fixture and bulb(s)
-Buy a single/dual compact fluorescent fixture and bulb(s)

If you look at wattage alone, it's something like this:

-Dual-bulb fluorescent - ~40 watts
-T5 - ~24w single, ~48w dual
-CF - ~65w

I'd like to get as much light into the tank as I can without having to use pressurized CO2. I think that puts me around 2-3 WPG, which means I'd need to go with Compact Fluorescent lighting.

I'm hoping to keep this to under $100 or so ($150 very maximum).

Am I thinking of this right? Any suggestions?

Philosophos

if you up your light, you may want to head for compressed CO2. You can push up to 2wpg most often with DIY CO2 and excel. 3wpg would be into the land of compressed CO2, even with inefficient CF's. T5HO's I'm less familiar with, but would say around 1.5-2wpg of that would leave you wanting compressed CO2 as well.

-Philosophos

Tu13es

Ah, okay. I don't have the money nor desire to start using compressed CO2 at this point, so I guess maybe just a dual bulb fluorescent tube will work best?

Philosophos

Most likely what you've got will work. If your plants are suffering from lack of light near the bottom, try getting better spread; 2 bulbs apart is better than 2 close together, dual reflectors beats single, etc.

Odds are it will be more often CO2 that creates limitations rather than light in your case. For instance, HC can be grown low light, but does not do well with low CO2.

Don't get suckered in to worrying piles about spectrum much either. You can always add a little more light if it turns out you need to compensate for a lack of PAR. Do what looks good first, worry about the fine adjustment later.

-Philosophos

geeks_15

I have had great success with the coralife T5 double strips. I had 2 over my 29 gallon with pressurized CO2 and could grow med to high light plants well.

I started with One of them on my 29 gallon with DIY CO2 and it was working well, but I wanted a thick foreground carpet and fuller growth overall so I upgraded. You should be able to get a single coralife T5 double strip for well under $100.

Jeremy

Tu13es

Wow, yeah, I had no idea they could be so cheap. I think I'll do this, then. Thanks!

taz81

Hey I just bought this 130W 30" 2x CFL fixture for $68+ Shipping, on sale from origionally $148