Hi,

I currently have a 20gal/75l "tall" aquarium (24 x 12 x 16 in^3 or 60
x 30 x 40 cm^3) that doesn't have any lighting for the moment, since
I'm running a bit short on the cash. It is almost unplanted, with only
two Anubias nana plants and two very young (one is almost invisible)
unknown to me plants. Nevertheless, I would like to try my hardest to
preserve these plants from dying and perhaps get some more low-light
plants (my fish need more plants than I currently have).

Firstly, like the subject says, I would like to find a cheap temporary
lighting and later upgrade/change to better lighting. As far as I
understand, fluorescent lighting would be perfect, but is unsuitable
for the role of cheap, temporary lighting, since I would still need to
buy the ballast and fixture and later throw that away as I buy better
lighting.

Another option are incandescent, halogen, or self-ballasted compact
fluorescent bulbs that fit into regular incandescent sockets and can
be reused in other areas later. These would be perfect for temporary
lighting, but I'm wondering if having such light would be any better
than having no light. I have a few different incandescent bulbs as
well as one halogen spotlight, so the cost would be practically
$0. The 75W inc. bulbs have light output of 1090 lumens (according to
the packaging) and I would guess rather warm color (2000K?), the
halogen lamp's packaging says that the light output is 1400 for 100W
with built-in reflector, but the color temperature is rather low as
well. Another problem is intense heat, I tried to use it for the
aquarium and even when it was placed two feet away, the temperature
rose by around two degrees F. As to the compact fluorescent, from what
I was able to find on GE, Sylvania, and Philips websites, the bulbs
have rather high light output (2100 lumens for 34W bulb) and maybe
even cooler temperature (2700K), but would cost me about $10-20 each.

So, what would you recommend out of these tree options (or another
similar option that I've missed)? Would it be better to just leave the
aquarium without any lighting (the only light source is a fluorescent
ceiling lamp, that is about 6ft away) and buy the fluorescent lighting
proposed by the LFS later?

And one last question, would DIY CO2 injection be beneficial to such
low-planted aquarium and practically no light?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Richard Krushelnitskiy

--
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War
IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -- Albert Einstein

I've read that intensity is more import than spectrum. So personally, any
light will help.

"Other plants have adapted to areas where the sun lovers can't compete.
These plants are generally slow growers, and do not give off large amounts
of oxygen. Examples of these types of plants would be most Cryptocoryne and
Anubias species. Many of these plants do well in relatively dimly lit tanks,
and are not likely to exhaust the CO2 provided by the fish and biological
activity in the aquarium. These plants show little, if any, direct
improvement with light and CO2 increased beyond moderate levels."

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a...ic/default.asp


"Richard Krush" wrote in message
...

Hi,

I currently have a 20gal/75l "tall" aquarium (24 x 12 x 16 in^3 or 60
x 30 x 40 cm^3) that doesn't have any lighting for the moment, since
I'm running a bit short on the cash. It is almost unplanted, with only
two Anubias nana plants and two very young (one is almost invisible)
unknown to me plants. Nevertheless, I would like to try my hardest to
preserve these plants from dying and perhaps get some more low-light
plants (my fish need more plants than I currently have).

Firstly, like the subject says, I would like to find a cheap temporary
lighting and later upgrade/change to better lighting. As far as I
understand, fluorescent lighting would be perfect, but is unsuitable
for the role of cheap, temporary lighting, since I would still need to
buy the ballast and fixture and later throw that away as I buy better
lighting.

Another option are incandescent, halogen, or self-ballasted compact
fluorescent bulbs that fit into regular incandescent sockets and can
be reused in other areas later. These would be perfect for temporary
lighting, but I'm wondering if having such light would be any better
than having no light. I have a few different incandescent bulbs as
well as one halogen spotlight, so the cost would be practically
$0. The 75W inc. bulbs have light output of 1090 lumens (according to
the packaging) and I would guess rather warm color (2000K?), the
halogen lamp's packaging says that the light output is 1400 for 100W
with built-in reflector, but the color temperature is rather low as
well. Another problem is intense heat, I tried to use it for the
aquarium and even when it was placed two feet away, the temperature
rose by around two degrees F. As to the compact fluorescent, from what
I was able to find on GE, Sylvania, and Philips websites, the bulbs
have rather high light output (2100 lumens for 34W bulb) and maybe
even cooler temperature (2700K), but would cost me about $10-20 each.

So, what would you recommend out of these tree options (or another
similar option that I've missed)? Would it be better to just leave the
aquarium without any lighting (the only light source is a fluorescent
ceiling lamp, that is about 6ft away) and buy the fluorescent lighting
proposed by the LFS later?

And one last question, would DIY CO2 injection be beneficial to such
low-planted aquarium and practically no light?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Richard Krushelnitskiy

--
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War
IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -- Albert Einstein

I can't answer your question, but I would like to request that anyone with
information about these self-ballasted compact flourescent lights that fit
in incandescent sockets please post. I'm very intrigued by them, I can get
the bulbs relatively cheaply and I have an extra 10 gallon incandescent
hood. I'm wondering if they would be decent lights for a planted tank. If
I had one flourescent with a GE sunshine or plant&aquarium bulb and one
cheap incandescent hood with two PC's in it, what level of light would this
provide?
-Cesium


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Can you move the tank close to a window? Daylight is cheaper than any
"make-do" light fixture you might buy and since its moving into the winter
months, the intensity of sunlight ought not to cause a problem with
overheating. Even a North facing window ought to give you enough light for
Anubias, until you can save the money to buy a proper fixture.

James Purchase
Toronto

"James Purchase" writes:

Can you move the tank close to a window? Daylight is cheaper than any
"make-do" light fixture you might buy and since its moving into the winter
months, the intensity of sunlight ought not to cause a problem with
overheating. Even a North facing window ought to give you enough light for
Anubias, until you can save the money to buy a proper fixture.


Well, the aquarium can be moved a few feet to be almost directly under
a sun-roof facing west, but would it really be a good thing to do? As
far as I understand, I will have to either tear it down completely or
risk breaking it even if I only leave a couple of inches of water and
the gravel (latter is 35lb + 10-15lb rocks).

Thanks for responding!

--
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War
IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -- Albert Einstein

I've had three bulbs (I don't know what these things are--they came in
a blister pack from WAL-Mart; they look kinda like java fern to me,
but I'm a COMPLETE newbie to plants) doing very poorly in a ten gallon
tank with two 25W incandescent bulbs. They've survived for 2 - 3
months, but the leaves never got over two inches long.

I recently put on two 25W threaded-flourescent bulbs, and the plants
LOVE it. The sparse, stubby leaves have now been replaced by
numerous, leaves 6" - 8" long and 2" wide (oh yeah--the algae loved it
too. All four sides glowing green and my plants were all hairy until
I added an otto and 4 amanos).

I'm very intrigued by them, I can get the bulbs relatively cheaply

I paid $20 for a five-pack at Sam's Club. Packaged as 100W
replacements (Lights of America brand, I think).

and I have an extra 10 gallon incandescent hood.

That's what I was replacing, but the bulbs I bought are just too big.
I had to put on a glass top and build a hood. I don't know how
humidity-sensitive the ballasts are--the bulbs in my incandescent hood
were constantly being sprayed with water.

I'm wondering if they would be decent lights for a planted tank. If
I had one flourescent with a GE sunshine or plant&aquarium bulb and one
cheap incandescent hood with two PC's in it, what level of light would this
provide?

I can't answer this. I could find no spectrum listed on the packaging
for these bulbs. However, I have 5 watts per gallon over 10" of
water--everything I've read tells me that this should be good enough
for my first try.

---Vic