# Cheap/free lighting?



## brumbird (5 Mar 2014)

Hey folks

Ive got a 54 litre tank that I am interested in trying as a Walstad ecosystem. Ive got.her book and am only on page 21 so very much finding my feet.

I love the idea of emergent growth but the tank is a bog standard Juwel with lighting in the hood.

Whats the best way to go about lighting this tank? Is sunshine enough? (in the UK - pah!)

Any advice would be so helpful thank you


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## Rob P (5 Mar 2014)

Ikea desk lamp?


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## brumbird (5 Mar 2014)

Lol I was just looking at Edvets one perched on a corner! What sort of wattage should I go for?


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## Edvet (5 Mar 2014)

That's just a small desklight (halogen). Above the tank there's a HQI lamp.
Anything that can hold a decent PL lamp should fit (look at the Dennerle nanolights for an example)


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## Henry (6 Mar 2014)

You could always suspend the tank's lid somehow. I used a cheap clothes rail, but I don't know how much your lid weighs, so proceed with caution. There are various other methods of doing so, too.


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## EnderUK (6 Mar 2014)

You could just get a reading lamp and put a CFL bulb in it. You could wire up a 3xgu10 spot light to a plug £5 and stick it in a timer. Then screw the light into the wall about 0.5m above substrate. You could then get some 4-5w gu10 6500k led bulbs off of ebay. You can place the focal points of the spot lights where you like in the tank. If the lights end up to bright you can direct some of the light out of the tank, direct one bulb up to the ceiling or even take one bulb out.

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## Tim Harrison (6 Mar 2014)

I think this magical scape by Stickleback was just lit by ambient light from his window; I'm sure he was living in the UK at the time. The Banyan Forests of Stickleback Island | UK Aquatic Plant Society


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## brumbird (6 Mar 2014)

Wow that banyan forest tank was beautiful. I love the idea of being so low tech, and the emergent growth looked so natural.

Right I'm going to have to google all these lighting suggestions - thanks ffor the advice!


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## Alastair (7 Mar 2014)

If you want emergent growth too just get a couple of the clip on led ikea desk lamps. Lovely warm colour light and some serious spread for 3 watt. I used it on my emmersed planting and also on some of my low techs and shrimp tanks. 






That was just one spot focused but easily lit the tank if moved up


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## brumbird (7 Mar 2014)

Like many, I miss that tank Alastair. Your new one is pretty special though


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## Alastair (7 Mar 2014)

brumbird said:


> Like many, I miss that tank Alastair. Your new one is pretty special though



I know. I do too massively. I should have left it to run longer. Whats worse is I go out to the outhouse type garge thingy almost daily only to see it stood up against the side


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## brumbird (7 Mar 2014)

What will you do with it?

And back on topic, just to get my bearings with regard to how much light I need - how many of these would you need to have successful growth in a 54 litre? tank is 30cm deep.

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber/4325750/Trail/searchtext>CLIP ON DESK LAMP.htm


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## EnderUK (7 Mar 2014)

I think most go with less is more, try one and see how it goes, you can always grab a second one if its too dim.

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## brumbird (7 Mar 2014)

Ok thanks Ender - makes sense if you are not providing high levels of eveything else then lots of light would create an imbalance.


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