Lighting Options

[ice-nine]

I am currently cycling a 45 gallon bowfront tank and am interested in trying a planted setup. The fluval kit came with a hood and t8 flourescent lighting. However, the bulb only puts out 25 watts which seems like it would be significantly underpowered for what is required to happily grow plants. The tank is in a room that gets alot of sunlight during the day, just not direct sunlight.

I am looking for ideas on lighting upgrade options for this setup. An open canopy type setup is out of the question at this point.

[Fisher_Zeb]

Replace the t8 light unit with a higher unit? What are the dimensions of the tank.

[geowashlaw]

What is your budget? AH Supply makes a unit that will fit into the plastic hoods that come with most tanks. It will up your lighting significantly. It uses a compact flourescent bulb. You can also buy lighting units that sit on legs over your glass. Either one will probably cost you around $200. What type of plants do you want to keep?

[nikelodeon79]

You're going to want AT LEAST 1-2 watts per gallon for most plants, higher if you're interested in trying CO2 and fertilizers.

A T5 HO (high output) fixture is a great option for plant growing. There are a lot of them on ebay for decent prices, but you have to wade through a lot of junk in order to find them. Many won't come with the proper bulb type for growing plants, however, so that's another expense to consider. I actually paid $35 for a 36" unit that has 78w of T5HO lighting. I paid around $50 for a 4' T5HO fixture with 96w of light. Both came with one actinic blue bulb (not good for plant growing) and one 10000K bulb (okay but not ideal for plant growing). I had to order bulbs for both, at a cost of between $12-$19 per bulb. My friend just ordered a 36" fixture off of ebay for $49.99 that comes equipped with two 6500K bulbs, which are ideal for growing plants.

I guess before recommending lights, etc. we need to know what sort of a planted tank you're interested in. You need to answer the following questions:

1) Are you interested in growing a few plants, or are you interested in a heavily planted setup (perhaps with carpet plants, etc.)?

2) What sort of a budget do you have? Even higher lighting, higher tech tanks can be done on a moderate budget, but something with DIY CO2 is going to be a lot more time consuming that getting a pressurized setup.

3) What kind of time are you looking to devote to the tank? As mentioned above, CO2 injection, along with dosing ferts, can be time consuming. Also in high tech tanks you have to devote some time to pruning your plants.

4) What sort of fish do you have, or intend on putting in the tank? Some fish are notorious plant eaters, and I'd hate for you to spend a bundle on a planted tank, only to have it destroyed by your fish.

[Cliff]

I guess it can depend on what type of plants that you want.

I had a 55 gallon with the stock T8 light the came with the hood. I got either a 6500 or 6700K bulb and was able to grow low light plants like java fern and two others that I can't remember the names of right now.

Might be worth a try if your budget is a issue

I would try to use direct sunlight for plants as you are risking a lot of algae as well

[ice-nine]

The tank dimensions are 36x12x20 flaring out to around 36x16-20 in the centre due to the bow front. A quick measurement of the lighting fixture that currently contains the 30" 25 watt T8 is about 33x7x2. The lighting fixture integrates nicely with the canopy so I would like to entertain utilising it. My concern with upgrading to a higher wattage setup with T5 or T5 HO would be heat dissipation. I don't really like the idea of a fan for cooling.

Due to the high cost of electricity where I live (~38c/kWh), I find myself leaning towards the LED options that are available, possibly a couple of 24" Trulumen Pro strips. High output, low heat and low power. Two 24" strips would give me around 32 watts of light and from what I understand, those LEDs put out more light per watt than my current T8 setup.

Ideas?

Any Canadian dealers for LED setups?

[pjaldave]

Any Canadian dealers for LED setups?

I particularly bought mine at Modular LED, because he is just in the vicinity plus i wanted the Ecoxotic LEDs.

I think you can buy truelumens at either Pets & Ponds or AquaCave.

LEDs are definitely better if budget is not an issue. just pay attention to the spectrums, they usually come with some blue lights, but there are some without.

[Arthas]

Hi,
I wonder, why does some lights e.g philips Aquarelle have a color which is quite different from its spectrum?
its color is pink! but the spectrum indicates pale blue?!

[ice-nine]

I really like the looks of those Ecoxotic Panorama Pro modules. It looks like two of them including reflectors on my canopy to replace the T8 might be a nice option. I'm not sure which color spread to choose though. I have a freshwater tank with plants.

[pjaldave]

I got the 8000K, which my plants are actually enjoying. Well, they're not dying apparently. Plus it's a good mix because some people will tell you to have one 6700k bulb and one 10000k, so go for the in between.