# Which light is best?



## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

Which light would be best for a 15 gallon tank? fluroscent or incandescent? should we just get one that says something like "for optimum plant growth"? I came across these http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/F55%2cFP/Class/Fish+Supplies+Freshwater+Plant+Lights/T1/F55+0047+0718/EDP/30099/Itemdy00.aspx
and http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/F55%2cFP/Class/Fish+Supplies+Freshwater+Plant+Lights/T1/F55+0495+0206/EDP/23795/Itemdy00.aspx
and http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/F55%2cFP/Class/Fish+Supplies+Freshwater+Plant+Lights/T1/F55+0047+0181/EDP/3210/Itemdy00.aspx. would any of these be ok? we will be changing our substrate to either fluorite our eco complete (is this the cichlid gravel i should be using? i cant find anything else)


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

They will all do the same work. One may have a slightly higher output in reference to lumens but with the wattage, it will be minimal. If you could put 2 over your tank, it would help out a great deal.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Yup, I concur with Simpte. Any of those lights would be fine, and two of them would be better than one. And get some reflectors to put behind them to make sure that you get the light going into your tank rather than bouncing around you hood.

If you use only one of those lamps, you'll be restricted to growing only very low light plants. Oh, and don't even consider using incandescent. It produces too much heat and not enough light.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

do you know where i can find these reflectors online? ive never seen anything like what your talking about at my lfs


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

would tin foil work too?


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

That's what I was thinking, anything to reflect the light would work IMO.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

urs dont come with reflectors? ones i buy have it in the strips.

I am putting a 10g planted together going to have 40w with c02 injector in it.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

hmm, if theyre built in then (the one we have now doesnt have one) since were buying a new light itself, we'll just look for one thats built into the light fixture. thanks guys


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

What I do is, I just buy the bulb, and a starter, and a reflector to go with it. The reflectors are easy to find in the UK; I'm surprised you don't see them in the US! For example, here are some bulbs I might get:
http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/listsections.asp?parent=50&seq=153&retp=42&rets=102
(If I were buying 2 15W bulbs I'd probably get one Daylight and one Triton) and here are the starters I would get for them:
http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/listsections.asp?parent=44&seq=146&retp=42&rets=102
(I would get either the Interpet or Arcadia ones) and here are the reflectors I'd put behind the tubes:
http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/listsections.asp?parent=45&seq=147&retp=42&rets=102


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

The best reflectors come from http://www.ahsupply.com. You can purchase a retrofit kit for an existing fixture (upgrade to PC) or just purchase the reflectors. Believe it or not, the reflector is the most crucial part of a light fixture. Other companies make reflectors (coralife, jbj ect...) but hands down ahsupply are top notch.


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