# 32 gallon Hagen Waterhome



## skabooya (Apr 15, 2005)

I have had my 32 gallon Hagen Waterhome for some time now and the lights are really bothering me. They bothered me before but now, it is just killing me. I want to upgrade, but I do not want to do CO2.
I know I have just over 1wpg (yea I know, dated way to measure) But I want to be able to grow nice stem plants like rotala, etc

I have 4 bulbs; 2 fixtures, over my saltwater tank. I will be toning it down A LOT for my new re-build by using only one fixture and keeping only softies like I had originally. 

I keep reading mixed/different threads about using double HO bulbs over a tank of comparable size. I would like experience/opinions as to whether I should buy a new fixture or if I can use what I have.

The fixture in question is a 2x39W T5HO Hagen Glo. Of course I would buy new bulbs specifically for plants, but I am thinking this may be too much light for my little 32 gallon even if I put a glass barrier between the bulbs and water


Has anyone ever retrofitted the waterhome hood with a T5 system? Single bulb or two lower wattage bulbs?


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## dzega (Apr 22, 2013)

Water column fertilizing and a bit lightning will 
get your stem to flourish. Don't be afraid to overlight. You can always shorten your photoperiod


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## skabooya (Apr 15, 2005)

I thought plants needed a certain amount of time for light to be on for them to begin photosynthesis. What would my photo period time look like with 2x39watt T5HO bulbs over a 32 gallon tank?
I assume that the bulbs should be suspended or raised to quite a high distance above the tank. 
I only want a max of medium light plants. No high light because I do not want to use CO2 and I want low tech because I do not have the time to fiddle with things all the time. I am uber busy as it is.


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## skabooya (Apr 15, 2005)

Well, I got my answer. My husband HATES the look of an open top tank with the hagen glo fixture suspended over it. He likes it fully enclosed. I understand why. I wish there was a way to retrofit the waterhome 32 gal hood for T5's.
Any ideas on how to do that?


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## skabooya (Apr 15, 2005)

Contacted Hagen and they told me that there is no way to retrofit the canopy. I had a look underneath and noticed my individual reflectors are melted.  

My husband says to replace the reflectors with Tin foil, shiny side out. Would that work?

PS the bulbs are 2x20 watt T8.


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## JoeandCarrie (Oct 26, 2012)

I used tinfoil for a couple of old lights when I was younger. Worked fine for low light plants. Of course those were 20 longs and a 29 tall. Should work for your application, only way to find out of course is to try it... You can always leave the lights on longer too. I have a sweet algae farm right now in one of the wifes beta tanks. It runs a single t8 plant bulb but it runs from 530am till 10pm constant. The moss and algae grow like weeds and the beta munches away. Its about to receive 10 RCS to help control some of the algae. Anyway, it has tinfoil on the reflector because it had a white plastic one. Its a 10gal standard.
Hope that helps,
Joe


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## skabooya (Apr 15, 2005)

I put the foil on a couple days ago. I wrapped it around the removable white individual reflectors and then replaced them in the canopy. My mom said it looks a bit brighter when she came over for a visit. When my husband comes back from hunting we will make a trip to the LFS and I will pick up some new bulbs. We shall see if that helps at all. This tank used to be beautiful growing all kinds of plants.


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## JesusReynolds (Oct 3, 2013)

thats a great answer to work on, i loved it a lot thanks for the update


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