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Lighting dilemma for a 30 Gallon Half Moon Tank, Suggestions?

2K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  AdrienDeLaChicago 
#1 ·
Hello, all. I came acrosss a pretty nice deal to buy this gorgeous tank. Check it out here:



I bought it with the stand and it is about five feet tall. It gives the impression of being much larger than it is but the depth is only about twelve inches (front to back).

The concern I am having: I do not have much space to work with in terms of creating some sort of DIY lighting. At this point I have four 18"inch T5 bulbs at fifteen watts each. So that only gives me 60 watts.

The concern I am having is that there is roughly 24" from the lights to the gravel surface. Are there any ideas to increase my light? I would be willing to do spiral bulbs. I could make some sort of DIY apparatus and have the bulbs facing downward (ideal to have them pointing downward, right?) and buy like six of eight and wire them up to point downward.

The other thing is I am willing to be realistic. I am willing to grow moderate to low light plants. At this point I have dwarf swords, crypts and rotala rotundifolia. The rotala rotundifolia will probably stay very green. As you guys may already know it turns pink or orange under very high lighting conditions. But that is not important to me. As long as the plants are healthy and look healthy that is all that matters to me.

I could probably squeeze another 15 watt T5 bulb for a total of five T5 bulbs that will give me 75 watts.

So after rambling on and on I guess my questions are:

Will I have enough light at either 60 or 75 watts with T5 bulbs to grow a variety of swords, crypto plants and rotundifolia? Will this be enough light to reach plants that are nearly two feet from the actual light source?

I may also invest in other low light plants like anubias.

I cannot wait to set this puppy up and get it running! :red_mouth
 
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#2 ·
#3 ·
Woah...so for three of these I am going to spend just over $100? :icon_frow

I guess it is not bad if you are saying that I will not have to replace them for five years. :red_mouth

Plus if three bulbs only use 36 watts instead of the 60 watts or 90 that I was looking to use, it might balance out somewhat as my electric bill will be less over time.

Thank you for this info. I will investigate more.

So out of curiosity will four T-5 bulbs (60 watts) be a waste of effort to light plants that are two feet from the light source?
 
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