# 20 long lighting options



## Jsack12 (Mar 6, 2014)

After a recent leak appearing in my ten I have bought a. 20 long. I am on a very small budget. So for lighting I am leaning towards some hanging clip lights that are those work lights I will post a picture of the one I have hanging now and eventually will be two total. Now my question is what CFL do I want in these. Watts/ lumens. Do I go by what watts they use or what watts they replace. For ex. A 14w CFL replaces a 60 watt incandescent. Do I go Off the 60 or the 14? The fixture can hold up to 300 watts. My guess would be I want two 30 watt 6500k cfls. That is if I can find one like that. I'm doing this setup Cause it's cheap. If I had the $100 laying around I would get a finnex planted + . But I don't lol. So I think I'm gonna go with some hanging lights Inless anyone else has an idea for lighting. Cheap LED or some cheap t5 or something. 
Any help would Be appreciated!


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

Go by the actual wattage of the bulb, but just as a way to identify what bulb you're talking about. 2 30watt cfls will give you an extremely high light. Check out this link. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/184368-lighting-aquarium-par-instead-watts.html Different CFL's are graphed out. According to the chart a 23 watt cfl, 15 inches off the substrate would give you 150 par!


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I would use horizontal work lights instead. Those ones you have there are vertical hanging (the light bulb itself). Use 2 of the 13w CFL lights, 5000k-6500k color temperature, horizontally and you'll be good. I would suspend them above the tank a little bit too.

I had 3 of the 13w CFLs in domes like you have suspended 10" off of my 75g and I had some minor algae issues on my dwarf sag and glass. With two 30w CFLs, your tank will be an algae factory.


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

AsFreemananana said you can get more light if you mount them horizontally. I don't think I would bother with new fixtures when a 15w Homedepot cfl mounted vertically 5" above your tank will get you about 100 par at the substrate. You probably need two lights to get even coverage so with overlap you may need to raise them more. I was actually using 2 fixtures like this over my 20 long, but I took them off after a short while and put a planted + on.


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## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

What's the goal with this tank? Medium light, high tech, low tech? I'm guessing not high tech as you'd have to spring for CO2 but that's probably what lighting level you'd end up with if you use CFLs.

For low tech you can get a 30" Stingray for $55.00 with free shipping. I use them on my 55 and both of my 20 highs.


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## Jsack12 (Mar 6, 2014)

I'm a little Confused on what you guys mean by mounting them horizontally. Pictures would be great. This is going to be a medium tech tank to eventually a high tech. I do dose some co2 now but it's just that fluval kit so nothing extreme. But my plan was to set it up like it is in that picture but with a second fixture hanging.

Are you guys saying bulbs mounted horizontally will be brighter then mounted vertically? If that's the case I would rather keep them vertical. With I guess 2 13w bulbs. Just whatever you guys think would
Be best to a medium to high tech tank


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

The cfl in your first picture is hanging with the bulb running up and down. That's the vertical orientation. There are other fixtures that the bulb runs side to side, horizontally, like the orientation of a standard fluorescent bulb.
You can get higher par with a cfl by turning it horizontally. I can't imagine why you would want to do that. If you put a 15 watt home depot cfl in the fixture, just like it's hanging in your picture, you will get over 100 par at the substrate and somewhere around 250-300 about 5 inches off the substrate.
Going by your 1st post you said you were on a budget. You already have the vertical fixtures. Check out Hoppy's chart for cfl's in the link I posted. If you get the smallest Home Depot cfl bulbs, hang 2 just like in your first pic, you will have more light than you ever need. If you get dimmable bulbs you can add a dimmer, or raise them up.

Why are we talking about going to horizontal fixtures?


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## Jsack12 (Mar 6, 2014)

Thank you kubla. So if I do two fixtures
Like the one I have in my picture, what watt bulbs should I get? I previously have 2 10 watters from my ten gallon? Would those work? Here's the link to the bulbs:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lights-Of...-Aquarium-Bulb-1ct-Fish-Aquatic-Pets/10448675


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## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

It was my understanding that CFLs are much more efficient when mounted vertically in dome reflectors and much less efficient when mounted horizontally with reflectors. So by mounting horizontally you could use CFLs without getting high tech PAR. Although, mounting horizontally would likely give lower tech numbers than the OP is looking for. What am I missing here?


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Mounting spiral CFLs horizontally REDUCES the par. 

100 par at the substrate will grow a TON of algae without a well setup CO2 system.

I mounted a 13w spiral CFL in a 10.25" dome shop light and mounted it 8-10" above my tank (already 21" to the rim). At a total of ~30", I was getting low to medium light. There was algae on the glass and even on some of my plants. I would post a picture of the plant mass I had in my tank, but photobucket is down for maintenance. So here is a link to my journal where you can check out how much plant mass I had in my tank to support the light I had. At most, I had 4 fixtures over a 4' tank all suspended 8"+ off of the tank.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/858145-freemans-75g-tank-rip-retired-sold-10.html

I suggested placing the lights horizontally because mounting them vertically would require him to suspend them quite far off of the top of the tank to get low-medium light. You would have an incredible amount of overspill from the light. 

I'm just trying to make good suggestions based off of my experience with these lights. You can go by hoppy's par charts, like I did, and you may end up just like me, with way too much light. I had 4 of the 23w CFLs mounted right above the rim of my tank, enough for low-medium light for my dwarf sag. It blanketed the tank in black algae before I backed them off. I was even using a 6 hour photo period. This is not a stab at Hoppy or his par information. I want to make that clear. I regularly quote Hoppy and his numerous threads for advice. But everyone's tanks are different and light demands vary based on plant selection and mass. More light equates to more problems (potentially) in my book.

I saw the suggestion of the stingray, which is a good light on a 55g but may be a bit too much light for a 20g IMO. I used a 0.5w beamswork LED on my 20g tall and it grew dwarf sag, guppy grass, frogbit, crypts, and anchor moss very well. They run about $40 and will work well for a low tech tank.


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

> Mounting spiral CFLs horizontally REDUCES the par.
> 
> I suggested placing the lights horizontally because mounting them vertically would require him to suspend them quite far off of the top of the tank to get low-medium light. You would have an incredible amount of overspill from the light.



As Goodbytes and Freemananana both noted cfls put out more light to the substrate when hung vertically, just the opposite of what I said. I based my comments on mis-remembering how the orientation affects the light with cfl. Hoopy's charts are still good of course, I just didn't bother looking at both of them!

Jsack12 looks like you could get a medium light with a couple of smaller cfls horizontal. Check out the charts. There is also the option of using the fixtures you have with dimmable bulbs and a dimmer. Not sure how responsive the cfls are with a dimmer. Hopefully others will chime in.

Sorry for any added confusion with my backwards info!


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

No worries! Dimmable light bulbs are often labeled as such. Keep that in mind. IF it doesn't say it is dimmable, it likely is not.


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## Jsack12 (Mar 6, 2014)

I think I'm just going to go with the way I have the fixture now and use the 10w bulbs I posted in my link. At least for a while till I save up some money for a planted + or something led along those lines


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## Termato (Apr 12, 2012)

For a tank that doesn't require deep light penetration, I'd go LED because of the light output VS energy usage. You can get a 30" LED bar on ebay for around $30-40. I use 2 CFLs and 1 FS LED Bar on a 29G and it's perfect. I'd have 2 LED bars but I already had the CFLs. Why spend the extra money, right?

You can see the color from mixing the two types of light:









That Light bar puts out 3240 Lumens @ 27 Watts. You're not going to get this type of efficiency from a CFL. Not to mention, this is full spectrum. They also have Blue and White LEDs. Just make sure you get the .5W LEDs and not the .1W LEDs as they aren't as strong. Here is an image of the Full Spectrum one:










A 23W CFL bulb only puts out ~1,600 Lumens

That's why I go LED and those fixtures are cheap and they wont burn out. You'll save money on electricity in the long run.

*DISCLAIMER: * I've had the LED light bars for 2.5 months and the actual light bar is pretty well constructed but the power cable seems to be quite fragile. It's not that I've had them break but I've noticed that it's possible to do so if not careful. I also have two B/W 72" and one FS 48" of these LEDs.


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## Jsack12 (Mar 6, 2014)

Termato said:


> For a tank that doesn't require deep light penetration, I'd go LED because of the light output VS energy usage. You can get a 30" LED bar on ebay for around $30-40. I use 2 CFLs and 1 FS LED Bar on a 29G and it's perfect. I'd have 2 LED bars but I already had the CFLs. Why spend the extra money, right?
> 
> You can see the color from mixing the two types of light:
> 
> ...


Dang that looks really good! How Do you think that led would do on a 20 long by itself? Could it put out medium light? I could just return my CFL stuff and just spend an extra $20 for one single led fixture. Makes more sense especially since I keep reading that the planted plus is too much light for a 20 long Inless it's on the dimmed mode. I could just save $50 in the long run


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## Jsack12 (Mar 6, 2014)

http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/252134861925 

Is this the fixture you have? Got 10,000k white leds 0.5 watts


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

[Ebay Link Removed] 24" 30" 36" 48" 72" LED Light High Lumen Aquarium Plant Full Spectrum Fowlr | eBay[/url] 

Is this the fixture you have? Got 10,000k white leds 0.5 watts[/QUOTE]

There seems to be 2 versions of this light.. One w/ higher density and more actinic blue..
One w/ less but more 10,000k

291651103215


> 24" EA 60 27x - 1200 lumen 16x 10000K, 6x Actinic, 3x Red, 2x Green
> 16/6/3/2



US $21.95
or:
24/24/3/3 
 3780 lumens

Really more saltwater centric.


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## Jsack12 (Mar 6, 2014)

jeffkrol said:


> [Ebay Link Removed] 24" 30" 36" 48" 72" LED Light High Lumen Aquarium Plant Full Spectrum Fowlr | eBay[/url]
> 
> Is this the fixture you have? Got 10,000k white leds 0.5 watts


There seems to be 2 versions of this light.. One w/ higher density and more actinic blue..
One w/ less but more 10,000k

291651103215


> 24" EA 60 27x - 1200 lumen 16x 10000K, 6x Actinic, 3x Red, 2x Green
> 16/6/3/2



US $21.95
or:
24/24/3/3 
 3780 lumens

Really more saltwater centric.
[/QUOTE]


Jsack12 said:


> Termato said:
> 
> 
> > For a tank that doesn't require deep light penetration, I'd go LED because of the light output VS energy usage. You can get a 30" LED bar on ebay for around $30-40. I use 2 CFLs and 1 FS LED Bar on a 29G and it's perfect. I'd have 2 LED bars but I already had the CFLs. Why spend the extra money, right?
> ...



Ya there is a bunch on eBay. Hard to pinpoint which is the right one


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## Jsack12 (Mar 6, 2014)

Termato said:


> For a tank that doesn't require deep light penetration, I'd go LED because of the light output VS energy usage. You can get a 30" LED bar on ebay for around $30-40. I use 2 CFLs and 1 FS LED Bar on a 29G and it's perfect. I'd have 2 LED bars but I already had the CFLs. Why spend the extra money, right?
> 
> You can see the color from mixing the two types of light:
> 
> ...


Do you think that single led fixture would be strong enough for medium to high light in a 20 gallon long?


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

> That's why I go LED and those fixtures are cheap and they wont burn out.


I use mostly led. Mine have been very reliable, but saying they won't burn out......I don't think so. The actual LED is very long life but there are drivers, switches, Chinese soldering, etc, etc.

I have some 10,000k lights I got off the bay. They are in my closet because I don't like the look of how they light the tank. I realize these have some red, blue and green leds added and maybe that makes the difference, but it doesn't seem like there is very many of them.


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## Jsack12 (Mar 6, 2014)

Kubla said:


> > That's why I go LED and those fixtures are cheap and they wont burn out.
> 
> 
> I use mostly led. Mine have been very reliable, but saying they won't burn out......I don't think so. The actual LED is very long life but there are drivers, switches, Chinese soldering, etc, etc.
> ...


I'm just gonna save up the $100 and get the planted + 24/7. We can all agree it's a good light just a heavier price tag


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

Sounds like a good choice.


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