# Help with lighting...



## pafish (Jun 26, 2012)

Hello All,

Wondering if you can recommend some lighting options for me. I would like a tank planted with low and medium light plants. No CO2 at this point. So, plants I can likely grow without CO2. Tank dimensions 36"x18"x18". I was looking at the marineland double bright, but have read some negatives on it being good for anything other than low light plants. Any flourescent fixtures you could recommend? Is a double bulb flourescent sufficient or do I need more than two bulbs?

Thanks!

pafish


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## manninge20 (Jun 17, 2012)

I defiantly think a double bulb flourecent light would be sufficient for most easy to medium to care for plants. I have seen and heard of people growing medium light plants in a tank with one 18" bulb. I Was actually looking at the marineland LEDs too and I almost bought one for my 20 gallon project. I don't know enough to tell you specific plants but I would think some wisteria and java fern as well as some anubias. All pretty common easy to care for plants. 
-Eric


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## Catherine Tarry (Jul 2, 2012)

Good point


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

pafish said:


> Hello All,
> 
> Wondering if you can recommend some lighting options for me. I would like a tank planted with low and medium light plants. No CO2 at this point. So, plants I can likely grow without CO2. Tank dimensions 36"x18"x18". I was looking at the marineland double bright, but have read some negatives on it being good for anything other than low light plants. Any flourescent fixtures you could recommend? Is a double bulb flourescent sufficient or do I need more than two bulbs?
> 
> ...


Hello pa...

A couple of months ago, I ugraded my tank lighting. Deep Blue Professional has a nice two bulb T5 strip with added LED lighting in the middle of the strip. The bulbs are two 28 watt. Not what you'd call strong lighting, but my low to moderate light plants are doing very well with it.

CO2 is nice, but I've never used it and my tanks are pretty heavily planted and the plants are very healthy. 

If you're interested, check with alphaprobreeders. They carry several different strip sizes. 

B


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Kinda ugly but you could even use several spiral pig tail lights in round reflectors.

a 50g tank would need 50w with 100w even better. 20 3-6 15w bulbs. or 4-5 19w bulbs.

But then you may not have a hood to hide them.


my .02


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## pafish (Jun 26, 2012)

BBradbury,

This Deep Blue fixture is T5NO not T5HO, correct? One question I'm struggling with - is a dual bulb T5NO fixture sufficient for my needs or would I need two dual bulb T5NO fixtures as tank is 18' width, not 12". Or would a dual bulb T5HO fit my needs better, or would that be too much light? Or with the narrow strip of a dual bulb setup, either T5NO or T5HO, would the central portion of the aquarium get good light and the front and back get significantly less light? The LED night lighting is a nice feature I'd appreciate as well. 

Thanks!

pafish


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

pafish said:


> BBradbury,
> 
> This Deep Blue fixture is T5NO not T5HO, correct? One question I'm struggling with - is a dual bulb T5NO fixture sufficient for my needs or would I need two dual bulb T5NO fixtures as tank is 18' width, not 12". Or would a dual bulb T5HO fit my needs better, or would that be too much light? Or with the narrow strip of a dual bulb setup, either T5NO or T5HO, would the central portion of the aquarium get good light and the front and back get significantly less light? The LED night lighting is a nice feature I'd appreciate as well.
> 
> ...


Hello again pa...

The lighting doesn't specify the output. At 28 watts per bulb, it would be nominal. But, that level of lighting is going to be fine for any low to moderate light plants and that takes in a large number of aquatic plants. The two bulb, lower watt set up has worked much better than the single, higher watt bulb I used to use. 

I'm using the 48 inch strips for my 55 G tanks and I'm impressed with how well made the lights are. They're not inexpensive, but you really get what you pay for and Ron McGee at alphaprobreeders has helped me a lot.

Hope this is helpful.

B


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## pafish (Jun 26, 2012)

Also, I went to two small pet/aquarium stores as well as Petco today and did not see T5NO bulbs at any of them. They all had T5HO and T8 I believe. Do Lowes/Home Depot sell T5NO bulbs in the correct spectrum for plants. 

I want to have enough light to grow a wide variety of low and medium light plants, but not so much that I cause an algae problem and need CO2 and lots of fertilizers to deal with it. I'm thinking maybe two T5NO fixtures or maybe one T5HO fixture??

pafish


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## pafish (Jun 26, 2012)

I'm also wondering if I got a four bulb T5NO or T5HO fixture with separate switches would I be able to run it with 2,3 or 4 bulbs based on my needs?

Or... how would the marineland reef LED work for a planted tank?

Thanks!

pafish


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You would probably be okay with a 2X39W, T5HO setup. The problem that I see with your tank is finding an equal lighting solution. Because your tank is 18" front to back (50g tank) having a single source that is about 4" wide on top of the tank makes it hard to equally distribute the light downward. You can easily see how light would be very strong in the middle area and fade as it got closer to the glass. Or, possibly a 3 or 4 bulb elevated off the tank will fix this issue also.


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## pafish (Jun 26, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> The problem that I see with your tank is finding an equal lighting solution. Because your tank is 18" front to back (50g tank) having a single source that is about 4" wide on top of the tank makes it hard to equally distribute the light downward.


Yeh, that's what I'm thinking as well. So maybe two dual bulb T5NO would be better than one dual bulb T5HO. 

The tank is not in a location where I can hang the fixture from the ceiling, so I'd need some sort of brackets to raise the fixture above the tank. I'd also need the setup to look nice as the tank is in a very visible location in my open floor plan house. 

I'm also very interested in the marineland aquatic plant lighting system that just came out, but I'm afraid it may be too much light. 

Thanks!

pafish


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