Lighting question...

[PerenGee]

Hi all, I have another nub question. So as some of you know I have a little 10g that I got from one of those Petsmart starter kits. It has the hood with the two screw in lightbulbs that pretty much suck. So at the advice of one local store I bought two of those swirly lightbulbs (the energy efficient ones) to replace the incandescent bulbs.

I've been trying to add more plants and I was told/scolded by an employee at another local store that I didn't have high light, the swirlies were no good, that I should get fluorescent bulbs. So I went to yet another local store because I knew they had the fluorescent hood and glass top and they've been nice to me as an added bonus. Basically, I got that and plugged it in and I was suprised to see a purple, dimmer light than my two swirly bulbs.

Sorry about the long windedness but here's the question, the long fluorescent that I just got says it's 18-19 watts. The two swirly bulbs USE 10 watts total but add up to something like "the visual equivalent to 40 watts." I don't know what that means exactly. Anyway, did I make a mistake in getting the fluorescent hood, or is that the way to go? Also, are there any 18" fluorescent tubes that are brighter than what I have while still only using 19 watts (I believe that's the power limit on the hood)?

Sorry guys, I'm still a noob and I'm trying to learn as much as possible all at once...probably not the best of ideas. Anyway, thanks in advance!

 

[LtGtR2]

Some one will pick up on this thread soon but for the most part, the watts don't mean anything cause you want a certain spectrum of light from what i understand like 10,000k and so forth. This basically means that more light can travel farther through the water some plants have it high and some low. But like i said i am not expert either but some one will pick this thread up fast with a lot of info! Another place to look would be the aquatic plants section of the forum.


Link for the aquatic plants forum if you want to take a look around!
Aquatic plants!

 

[Macfish]

I have 2 - 10's set up, one with a regular incandescent set up (yours) and one that I custom made to hold 2 - 18" fluorescent bulbs.

I too went the same route buying 2 - 6500k "day light" compact fluorescent bulbs (I forget what wattage) from Walmart and it works perfect for me.

I sometimes take plants from the tank with regular fluorescent tube bulbs and transplant them into the tank with the screw-in kind to save the plant/bring it back to life.

Both tanks are filtered/heated/stocked (guppies)/maintained the same.

As you can see I took the right side reflector off in the second picture, this was to fit a larger bulb in but it made very little difference so I went back to the smaller style and put the reflector back in.

 

[Lotus]

With either of the setups you have (incandescent hood with screw-in compact fluorescents and standard, normal out put fluorescent hood) you should be able to grow low and medium light plants. That covers a good variety of plants, and you should be able to get a good display going. Usually, the normal output fluorescents are 15 watt bulbs, so you do have slightly less light than the other hood. I agree about the screw-in bulbs at Walmart being great (they're in the fish section).

There's a great guide for plant light requirements here: PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide It should help you work out if the plants you have will be OK.

 

[PerenGee]

Thanks for the info everyone! I'm getting closer to solving this lighting issue. I'll give you all an update soon!

UPDATE: So after talking with a few workers at the local shops I think I sort of get this lighting stuff. Basically that one shop swindled me out of $45 so I returned it but they would only give me store credit. Boo! I think I'll go ahead and shell out for a power compact because I want some pretty, pretty plants. Again thanks for the help!