Lighting Upgrade

[Mikaila31]

my 20gal high really needs a light upgrade . The lights in it are very yellow, they are 2 verilux 20w t12 grow lights. They are made for plants but not for aquariums. I cant put T8 in the hood i have so i've decide to get a new one. The tank is 24" long and i would like to have a little over 2wpg. so any suggestions on what type of hood to get? cheers

 

[jpedersen024]

Ok, I am probably too horrible at knowing the T8's from the T12's, from any T's really... but I just upgraded my 55g light to a 36" double compact fluorescent... which I think are T5's?? Definitely don't quote me. Are you growing live plants? If not, you can easily go to a PowerGlo type bulb, which will give you a much whiter light. I find it fantastic for those silver and blue fish especially. I changed out my regular (DayGlo) bulb for another 15w PowerGlo, and it made all the difference in the world - getting rid of that dingy yellow tint.

Someone else can give you a lot more detail/ info, but there's my little less than 2 cents worth!

 

[simonbrown403]

The difference between the tube is a T12 are about 30mm diameter, T8's are 25mm and T5's are 16mm.
T12's are old old technology the same as the newer T8's the new T5 are twice as small for the same out put and a lot more efficient.

I would look on eBay there are some superb deals on luminars around the £40 ish mark, failing that power compacts are a good chose, just not the interpet version quite a few members have had problems with them.