Lighting; knowing is half the battle?

[jett862]

I appreciate any and all help you guys can give me.

I have two tanks that I've been fretting over lighting; a 25 gallon high paludarium, and a 6 gallon (eclipse) aquarium tank. I'm heading back to school in 3 days, an d I'm leaving the paludarium with my parents, it's housing 9 N.V.V. and my first attempt at growing live plants, I'll get pictures if I can.

I've come to the conclusion vivs need 1-2 watts per gallon of lighting, and aquariums need 2-4; however, this doesn't really do me much good. How on earth do you provide that sort of lighting to your tanks? The only flu. bulbs I can find are between 5-12 watts and don't fit the fixtures of my tanks; do most people make their own tops to suit their lighting needs, or is their some super secret tank lighting store that has multiple light fixtures on cage tops?

The only cage tops available to me here have room for a standard flu. bulb; not even compact or t5...

I would really like to get my tanks set up for maximum growth before placing them in the arms of my parents, thanks for the help.

A side note... anyone have any knowledge on fertilizers (for aquariums) and c02 injection, and is either harmful to my tank residents (the aquarium is 4 female betas and 2 algae eating shrimp. Eventually, I plan to make it a shrimp tank with some bumblebee and cherry shrimp.. no betas.)

Thanks.

 

[falconlb45]

i've been trying to figure out what works plant wise for a few months now-
so far, it seems that a compact flourescent bulb setup is the way to go, co2 and fertilizer depend on how much light, how hard your water is, how many plants.
apparently, too much light and not enough co2 isint great for plants, but too much co2 and not enough light isnt good either-
Here is a helpful link

 

[jett862]

great website; but now I feel like the lack of c02 in my tank is deadly, I suppose I'll remedy that in the future.

What I'm still trying to figure out is: how do I deliver the necessary lighting, be it to my viv or my aquarium. I can get the bulbs sure, but who carries fixtures capable of plugging into a wall? What about providing reflection and compensating for heat?

For such a necessary, basic function of a tank.. I really do feel in the dark

 

[falconlb45]

i took a measuring tape, went to my local home depot and bought a few flourescent fixtures -
much less expensive then the pet store, and much much less then whats sold for tanks-
loaded them with various flourescent plant lights ( various color ranges )
I'm just now experimenting with co2 but not in my main tank. I'm a bit cautious, but odds are I'll add co2 there as well.

Home depot and lowes both had compact flourescent lights that fit in regular fixtures but i could not find a fixture that would work for my setup. Instead I went with standard flourescents- i did have a sort of idea- i've see clamp on desk lamps, normally they are around $10. I might buy a few of those, load them with the compact flourescents and have a go at that.

here in the middle is the clamp lamp i was talking about

 

[tomthlee]

I have a single 15 watt fluorescent light over my 25 gallon viv and the plants are growing fine.