lighting question

[brett_fishman]

i have a dual incandesent hood on my tank (looking into getting a single tube (14-16") flouresent hood)

but anywho, to the question...

i had 2 - 25w bulbs in there, then one burnt out, so i've been running one bulb for around 4 months (saw nothing wrong with it, the loaches likes the dim-ness) and then 3 days ago, the remaining bulb burnt out too, so i went and got a 2-pack of 25w and another of 15w bulbs.

now, the tank is exremely bright, i have a 25 on the left and a 15 on the right..totallying 40w of light on this 10g tank....4 wpg!!
the 2 loaches are hiding in their caves, from what i can tell, they dont want to go into the light, so what i'm thinking of doing is taking out one bulb...it'll be about as bright as before...


Q: will it be alright on the socket to have it on, but no bulb in it?


-brett.

[chefkeith]

I’d just cover the empty socket with some electrical tape to help prevent corrosion.

[brett_fishman]

well the hood has a glass pane between the lights and the water, barely any vapor gets to the lights..but i'll just stay safe and put some tape on there

i just took out the right-side bulb, now that side is dimmer..the main 'loach cave' is on the right as well...hapy loachies now

also: does anyone know if a 25 watt bulb is any brighter than a 15? i know it would make sence, but i cant see any difference...


-brett.

[TammyLiz]

It may look like a lot of light to you because you're used to seeing it so dim in there but two incandescent bulbs over a 10 gallon tank, even 25 watt bulbs, is very low light. In an incandescent bulb, most of the energy from the wattage is lost through heat and not output as actual light. The lowest light plants may or may not survive in those conditions. 4wpg would be bright light over a 10 gallon if you were talking about flourescent, but not incandescent.

Most likely your loaches are stressed from being in such a small tank and that would be the reason they prefer darkness, not that the two bulbs are actually overkill.

[brett_fishman]

i know they hate my tank!! i get it!! haha
new tank coming in the new year, hold your horses!!


-brett.

[TammyLiz]

This is the part I was meaning to refer to...

now, the tank is exremely bright, i have a 25 on the left and a 15 on the right..totallying 40w of light on this 10g tank....4 wpg!!

...to let you know that relative to other options for lighting over a 10 gallon tank, especially related to growing plants, which I'm not sure if you're trying to do or not, what you have is not "extremelly bright", as you said, but actually quite dim. I wasn't meaning to hound you about your tank size. I've seen others tell you already. I just thought it was likely to be the same issue here and not really because of the lighting, so mentioned it as a side.

[crazy loaches]

Yeah, incandescent light is very ineffecient compared to flourescent, your probably at 1-2wpg with 40W over a 10, or even less due to thier poor spectra. If your trying to grow plants what most do is swap out the incandescent bulbs for the screw-in spiral compact flourescent bulbs that are sold as replacements for incandescent. If you want a pale white light instead of the yellowish light get the 'daylight' ones that are 6500K. Incandescent also has very little blue spectra in it, one reason they dont do so well with plants. With proper spectra, I have grown some low/medium light plants in a low mantainence 20gallon tank with only .75wpg.

[brett_fishman]

i know that 'normal' compact flourescent bulbs wont fit in my hood (even low-pro ikea ones) but i'll look into the 'replacement' ones, they have some at petcetera...

and no, i'm not trying to grow any plants..i did buy one..maybe 5 months ago, i thought it was a java fern, but it turned out it was an amazon sword..it died due to lighting and no ferts...oh well, i might get some silk plants or some more plastic ones...

but yea, i found a sweet 16" single-tube flourescent fixture at home hardware..i dont know how i'd be able to fit it in the hood, or even if it will fit...its pretty cheap though...i'll have to see.


-brett.

[crazy loaches]

Good luck with your lighting. If you havent any live plants then you arent really limited in any way - try to get the color of light you like best. As for the screw in style sprial flourescents, my little 10g hood was designed for incandescent (the longer skinny tube looking one) and I could not fit any of the larger spiral flourescent lights in there. But If I stuck with the smaller ones (12W maybe, I cant remember off hand), they fit in there fine and produced quite a bit of light. And again, I really recomend the daylight ones (usually in a bluish packaging).

[brett_fishman]

thanks, that helps alot.

i dont think i'll spend any money on it ATM, as i just bought 4 spare bulbs (around x-mas) but maybe later.

if i get any plants (looking at some nice java ferns at lfs) then i might switch to flourescent


-brett.