[ryu1]

Can anyone recommend a light fixture for a 20L tank (30X12X12)? I just bought a 20L tank to house my 1 month old baby silver angels and don't have a light fixture yet. I currently have a coralife 36" for my 38 gal, and I don't have any problem with it, and so far I have looked at both Coralife, Nova Extreme, and Odyssea (bad reviews on ballast). There aren't many options for a 30" light fixture. Thanks.

 

[GitMoe]

Get the Odyssea. All those bad ballast reviews are from an older generation. They have long since redesigned the fixture and I've never seen a bad review since then of their fixtures. The price is awesome and I've had zero issues with my 2 bulb T5HO 36" fixture in the 9 months I've had it running everyday. I actually also just bought a 20L and will be getting the Odyssea fixture...

 

[Hoppy]

The best light for a 12 inch high tank is a simple one or two bulb T8 light. T5HO is too bright unless you suspend it quite a distance above the tank. T5NO will work, if you can find one 30 inches long.

 

[talontsiawd]

I have a Coralife T5NO fixture on my 20L. With no CO2, raised 1.5 inch, it is almost perfect. A bit too high light if you don't have CO2. I bet if I raised it 2 more inches, it would be perfect but it isn't suspended so I would need to make something (see sig for what I did). The same fixture seems to now be sold by Aqueon.

I have a different 20L with a 65 watt PC. That is raised probably 10+ inch and is still too high light for non co2. I put a screen on it and it was perfect. That is only a 24 in bulb though.


Both these lights don't have good reflectors. The T5NO has really bad ones. I am going to guess that the 2 bulbs are equivalent to 1.5 times or less to a good two bulb T5NO fixture with good reflectors.

 

[ryu1]

The price for odyssea is really good but I am skeptical about the quality of the unit. They dont have 30" except the 24" with an arm extending to 30" and the arm looks flimsy to me. If it is not for the price, I will just get the coralife 30". I dont have co2 except for my 38gal with diy co2, and I dont plan to use co2 at all, so am I going to have algae problem with 2 X 24W t5ho?

 

[talontsiawd]

I dont plan to use co2 at all, so am I going to have algae problem with 2 X 24W t5ho?

You likely will. You need a T5NO. Any you probably want to raise it a bit. If you can't find it from Coralife, I think the same fixture is being sold by Aqueon.

 

[Chris767]

I agree with the above. My 20L has one T5HO, very old and through a glass top, and even with that, my photo periods are short. Four hours on, two off, another four on. Even with that and CO2, I'm skirting the edge of algae doom closely. The snails and guppies are my only saving grace. Great growth and tons of pearling though. At times it seems like there's a bubble wand in there.