# light advice



## robo-snickers (Jun 12, 2012)

so i have a 29G tank that has the single T8 hood that doesnt seem to be enough to get my plants growing. so i have a plan and i wanna know what you think i should do.

so im gonna take apart the light fixture and put in new lights

the problme comes in at i dont know which i should to do. here are my two ideas

1. i have a spare T8 ballast lying around that can light up 2 T8 instead of just one which i have now. so all i would have to do is buy anonter T8, some light parts, and maybe some screws and braket things. so i would spend about maybe 20-25 dollars.

or!

2. should i go ahead and just buy a T5HO ballast which will cost me 30 bucks, only one i can find can hold 2 lights, so i would have to buy two lights, about 40 bucks, screws, brakets, light parts, so about 60 bucks. 

what would be best for me to do? i wanna make sure my lights will keep myplats alive, and i *dont* want to use CO2, but i do have dirt as a substrate if that matters. only real light demanding plant i think i have is a amazon sword that as a few red leafs... not sure of the name. what do you guys think will be best? also if i should get the T5HO, i plan on using the power cord and the on/off button from the hood i have now, will there be a problem if i connect those wires to turn on the T5HO Ballast? thank you


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## gar1948 (Jan 25, 2012)

I made the move to led's and never looked back. My plants are thriving without co2. It's the future of aquarium lighting.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I've never overhauled a fixture, but I would go for the T5HO's, otherwise you'll just end up upgrading later when the T8's aren't doing it for you anymore. Also, look into a good reflector, otherwise the housing might melt.


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## mkdarkforce (Jan 11, 2012)

I'm looking into these lights 1 white 1 blue T5-ho 4ft / 2LAMP Aquarium lighting it would be an up grade from what I have considering I have what came with the tank. ill have to measure I think I'm 24" not 48" but anyway.. It's for a 55gal tank(tall in height not long), I was gonna do 14000K. I've read too much light would require co2 I'm not looking to do co2 kits at all. would a 14000k light be too much? I wanna try growing some sort of carpet plant I have 2 in mind. Thanks for all the help

Ok so I measured my tank looks like I can fit a 24" I should have figured that but anyway 
On the site above the 24" only comes with 10000K I was hoping to get the blue one also but if I need more then 10000K ill get two whites thanks again for ur help


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

14000k is too high for plants, 6000-10000k is usable light. If you do not ever plan on 
co2 then t5 ho are overkill just add the extra t8.


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## jshiloh13 (Dec 12, 2010)

You should be fine using the same switch, but its hard to say. idk what the difference is in amp draw from t8-t5(if there is one?), But i would guess it's not that much. But You might want to go ahead and buy something that you know will hold up, just to be on the safe side.


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## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

I had the same problem in my 20 gallon long so I decided to buy a led light.i got the marineland 24-36 led with white light,moon light and timer for both light.it is more than enough light.im glad I made the move.check at marineland.com.thay have some very good lights there.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I have the fishneedit T5HO fixture for my 29g. Same company you posted the link to. The light is on for 8hrs total per day and I do not use CO2 and don't have algae problems.


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## GreenyFunkyMonkey (Nov 27, 2012)

I have a 50 gallon with two 15 watt floursent plant lights on each side of the aquarium. So far it seems to be enough for my plants to be just fine with. Though I would love to move over to the LED lights. Though, they are expensive as anything, and most the available LED setups are one time use... meaning if a LED bulb goes out, you can't replace it. So, I am still looking for the right LED setup, especially for planted aquariums. 

As far as rigging your new lights robo-snickers, make sure your lights can breath. Increasing your wattage makes more heat and can melt the plastic containing your light fixture.


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> I have the fishneedit T5HO fixture for my 29g. Same company you posted the link to. The light is on for 8hrs total per day and I do not use CO2 and don't have algae problems.


How heavily planted is your tank?


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## oldpunk (Dec 9, 2012)

FWIW, the fishneedit T5HO fixtures aren't true T5HO fixtures. They have ballasts that don't put out the full wattage TH5O bulbs run at. Their reflectors are also at the lower end of the spectrum. I only bring this up because as it turns out, in most cases they work well for a low tech tank. (which is what I see most of you running here)

In order to get away without co2, you need between 15-30 micromols of PAR. (in most cases) A 2 bulb fishneedit fixture sitting on it's mounting legs on a tank that's 18" tall is going to yield you roughly 30 micromols of PAR at the substrate. 

As far as picking out the bulb color goes, it's really up to you. I like a 10,000K + the pink one. 6,700K + 10,000K also looks nice. 6,700K all by itself looks too washed out for me. 10,000K all by itself looks too blue for me.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

dalfed said:


> How heavily planted is your tank?


Fairly heavy, although before yesterday much more so. I did some major rescaping.


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## jshiloh13 (Dec 12, 2010)

GreenyFunkyMonkey said:


> meaning if a LED bulb goes out, you can't replace it.


leds can be changed you just have to sodder new bulbs into the fixtures. It is not quite as easy to change out as a florescent tube, but still not to hard if you have ever soddered anything.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

oldpunk said:


> FWIW, the fishneedit T5HO fixtures aren't true T5HO fixtures. They have ballasts that don't put out the full wattage TH5O bulbs run at. Their reflectors are also at the lower end of the spectrum. I only bring this up because as it turns out, in most cases they work well for a low tech tank. (which is what I see most of you running here)
> 
> In order to get away without co2, you need between 15-30 micromols of PAR. (in most cases) A 2 bulb fishneedit fixture sitting on it's mounting legs on a tank that's 18" tall is going to yield you roughly 30 micromols of PAR at the substrate.
> 
> As far as picking out the bulb color goes, it's really up to you. I like a 10,000K + the pink one. 6,700K + 10,000K also looks nice. 6,700K all by itself looks too washed out for me. 10,000K all by itself looks too blue for me.


Not sure where my FNI fixture ranked out in Hoppy's data. I gave him PAR data for this light. Not so sure that I agree on whether or not they are "true" T5HO (still don't know what that means). If they weren't T5HO, or the power supply didn't drive the bulbs to the correct wattage the bulbs would not be as stable as they are and they actually are greatly improved with a better set of bulbs like Giesemann. I haven't tested the differences with my PAR meter, but it definitely improved. They are definitely T5HO, but as you said, the reflectors are on the low-end of quality....that is what makes them perform like non-T5HO more so than the ballasts. 

Also, when this tank was injected with pressurized CO2, I had no problem growing any type of plant that I wanted. The tank does well without CO2, but I can no longer grow the plants I used to be able to.


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## mkdarkforce (Jan 11, 2012)

Well I must thank all of you for your knowledge on lighting I did decide before reading all of this on the t5 Ho 30inch fixture from fishneedit website I got 1white 10000k and 1 blue so
Wish me luck thanks again all of you


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## oldpunk (Dec 9, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> Not sure where my FNI fixture ranked out in Hoppy's data. I gave him PAR data for this light. Not so sure that I agree on whether or not they are "true" T5HO (still don't know what that means). If they weren't T5HO, or the power supply didn't drive the bulbs to the correct wattage the bulbs would not be as stable as they are and they actually are greatly improved with a better set of bulbs like Giesemann. I haven't tested the differences with my PAR meter, but it definitely improved. They are definitely T5HO, but as you said, the reflectors are on the low-end of quality....that is what makes them perform like non-T5HO more so than the ballasts.
> 
> Also, when this tank was injected with pressurized CO2, I had no problem growing any type of plant that I wanted. The tank does well without CO2, but I can no longer grow the plants I used to be able to.


You can under drive T5HO bulbs without issue. They will even probably last longer. Someone on tpt tested the output of the ballasts and found that they where a few watts under what they're supposed to be. (I forget the actual number)

Here's Hoppy's chart:


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I don't think that changes what I said. I provided the fishneedit and all the Catalina data to that chart.

Oh yeah, my light is only 17" from the substrate (standard 29g, just like the OP's) and I only have about 2.5" of substrate.


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