I've been looking around the forums, and I can't for the life of me find a stickied, or really good thread on proper lighting in aquariums, more specifically pertaining to freshwater ones. It'd be great if one of our more experienced members could find some time to write / explain in a decent post the FAQs of lighting.

My original question however, pertains to my 10G tank that I want to plant heavily into a dutch style aquarium, with DIY CO2 and between 3-4WPG of lighting. I'm currently running about 1.5, but my hood only supports one bulb. Am I going to have to change out my entire hood in order to get the proper lighting by running dual bulbs, or do they sell some kind of bulb out there that can get me to my 3-4 WPG? Looked around petsmart and the only bulbs that they sell are 15 watt T5's and T8's.

On that topic, what exactly is the difference between a T5 and T8. Apparently the bulb that I have is a T8, but i'm not exactly sure what that means for me.

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I think there is a thread in the planted section....but not sure.

I know someone was working on one, but don't know if it got finished.

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

the t sizes are the diameter of the tube in 1/8".

T-5 is 5/8" t-8 is 8/8 (1") and so on.

In order to get more wattage you will need to replace the hood (or at least the ballast) to deliver more wattage to the tubes. Just replacing the tubes will not increase the power delivered.


my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

There's a sticky in the planted tank section now.

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

SusanKat, I know we have a lot of stickies (sp) here already but maybe there is room for another? A lot of us (me especially) know little about lights. I have learned much from the last few posts but many of us have planted community tanks. Some of the new folks may not know to look over in the planted section. Just a thought.

You guys do a great job of keeping this forum useful. I tell the newbies that this is the best place on the internet to learn about aquariums. Thank you.

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60g tall, all artificial plants, Rainbow tank; 55g for African Cichlids. 20g long for fry; 20g hex, 2 black Angels at my desk; 10g planted, with 50 Molly fry; 10 gal, 2x 13w cfl lightning, planted; 2g hex for "Buddy the Betta"; Wanting a 200g +, MTS getting bad.