# Lighting



## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

Went and bought some 11 watt 6500 kelvin for my tank. It don't seem bright enough. Should I go up in wattage. Or is the 6500 kelvin all I need?


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

How big is the tank? Fresh water? Saltwater?


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

Freshwater. 40 gal. 


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

I have plants above and below the water. My plants have not done much growing since I got the. One has even gotten smaller. Is there a fertilizer that's safe for fish and mudskipper? I need of help...


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## AquariumTech (Oct 12, 2010)

What kind of light are you using? I havent heard of anything in 11 watt remotely close to good enough for a 40G, unless its LEDs, which I doubt. I dont know what you have now, but chances are you will need a new system. The color temperature is right, but the power and light type doesnt seem right. 

You will need some decent T-8s/12s at the very least to grow some good plants in that tank. T-5s and LEDs are always the better option though. Its really all about your budget more than anything. Almost 10/10 times LEDs are the best way to go, again its just a budget issue with LEDs.


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

Using the flourescent spiral you get at home depot. The ones you use in your household lamps


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I use shop lamps. With 6500k daylight bulbs.

You can also get t8 shop lamps that will fit over a 40g dirt cheap. Once I need new bulbs again I'll be swapping for the t8 shop lamp. You should be able to do the whole set up with bulbs for 25ish bucks. My 55g 4' one will cost me like 35 with bulbs.

Regular shop lamp with bulbs cost me about 15$ so I figure I'm still winning on my low budget tank. But my planted tank on the other hand has a coralife 96w with 4built in fans. I sware that 10g lamp cost more then my other 7 10g set ups including fish.


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

The Inez I use are 6500 kelvin day lights. But with them being that energy efficient bulb. There 26 watt bulb. They say they replace the old 100 watt bulbs


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Yea they put off a bit but back to the point it's still going to be a 26w Bulb even if it is replacing a 100w bulb. My 96w is a 50/50 energy saver but still a 96w I'll grab pics of it tmro I got two of them for 300$ that was a super good deal for them. And I can't tell you the look on my gfs face when I told her I had to spend 75% of my paycheck on two lights lol, gotta love Craigslist


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Be very careful when upgrading your lights on a planted tank. First and foremost what plants do you actually have? They don't all need high light and high light tanks are a WHOLE new level of aquariums...similar to reef tanks.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

It's a deep tank, I started them from bulbs on my 96w I tried changing it and I killed half of my plants. So it's there to stay now otherwise I have to start over. And I'm trying DHG soon and since it sits way down there it needs the light. Every other light I used t5/t8/ 6500k shop lamp/6500k lamp/heat lamp iv failed with. It's the only thing that seems to work for me. I also took johns advice on adding mirical grow. It's doing wonders for my plants. Right now I'm out camping and have not seen my baby's in two days now so I'm hoping to go home and see growth because I added some before my leave. Iv also started a big java moss wall that's doing great so far it's starting to come out and look green in some spots.


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## AquariumTech (Oct 12, 2010)

grogan said:


> Be very careful when upgrading your lights on a planted tank. First and foremost what plants do you actually have? They don't all need high light and high light tanks are a WHOLE new level of aquariums...similar to reef tanks.


This.

Also, I dont know why you would switch from screw in type fluorescents to T-8s then, because they are usually at about the same level in terms of growing power/brightness (lumens). The only benefit T-8s would wield is maybe slightly better efficiency and better tank coverage for the cost, but it obviously wouldnt be as much much light per area.


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