Cichlid lighting

[carey]

Well I figured the SW tank shouldnt get all the new stuff so I'm gonna upgrade from my stock hood lights to some t5's.

The question is whether I get a 4 X 54w or a 2 X 54 watt. I don't currently have any live plants but I anticipate putting some in ( the ones my guys won't eat hopefully).

is a quad fixture overkill? I was also thinking if I ever made it sw it would come in handy but thats a very big IF.

Thanks

 

[mfdrookie516]

Personally, I wouldn't waste my money upgrading lights on an African tank... Nor would I waste my money putting plants in one. You'll just be giving them a salad bar. Been there, done that.

 

[TankBoss]

Well I figured the SW tank shouldnt get all the new stuff so I'm gonna upgrade from my stock hood lights to some t5's.

The question is whether I get a 4 X 54w or a 2 X 54 watt. I don't currently have any live plants but I anticipate putting some in ( the ones my guys won't eat hopefully).

is a quad fixture overkill? I was also thinking if I ever made it sw it would come in handy but thats a very big IF.

Thanks

For what its worth... here's a pic of my new double 54watt t5 ho. One 10000k bulb and one actinic on a 55 gallon. If your tank is bigger than 55 I say a quad def overkill.

 

[TankBoss]

For what its worth... here's a pic of my new double 54watt t5 ho. One 10000k bulb and one actinic on a 55 gallon. If your tank is bigger than 55 I say a quad def overkill.

Forgot pic lol. It's not a totally true representation because I thing the light combo confuses my cheap cam.

 

[carey]

Yeah I know about the plants. cichlids are famous for eating or tearing them apart. I just wanted to add a couple, nothing extreme or expensive. I have maybe 5 platic plants in there now, just wanna replace them.

I know the fish themselves don't really care about the lights. It's just the quad is only like $20 more than the double so I thought I'd ask.

Also, these fixtures come with 10k and aetnic. I wouldnt be needing these would I? Or would 2 10k's work? The blue light is strictly for corals correct? or is it to give a blue hue in FW applications?

Thanks

 

[HUKIT]

I run a 72" 8x39w fixture with my africans and found all 10k's was to bright even with black sand, so I ended up with 2 actinics,2 colormax, and 4 10k's and really couldnt be more pleased. The actinics really help bring out the colors, so my vote is for 4x54w fixture. You don't have to run all the bulbs but never know if you'll change your mind and want to plant or go to the dark side to salt then you won't have to upgrade again.

 

[carey]

Thanks for the input. I'm leaning towards the quad fixture. It has switches so I dont have to run all four at once if it seems like too much.

Hehe I've already crossed over to the dark side and boy is its different over there! I couldnt find more than a quad 30 inch fixture for sw tank. lol

 

[TankBoss]

I run a 72" 8x39w fixture with my africans and found all 10k's was to bright even with black sand, so I ended up with 2 actinics,2 colormax, and 4 10k's and really couldnt be more pleased. The actinics really help bring out the colors, so my vote is for 4x54w fixture. You don't have to run all the bulbs but never know if you'll change your mind and want to plant or go to the dark side to salt then you won't have to upgrade again.

I just plugged in my old warm bulbs along with my actinic and white and it looks great. Will I get that look if I just replace the white ho with full spectrum?

 

[HUKIT]

I just plugged in my old warm bulbs along with my actinic and white and it looks great. Will I get that look if I just replace the white ho with full spectrum?

I use Colormax bulbs by Coralife and would have run all Colomax bulbs with actinics but I have a reef ready tank with is 29in deep, so with that depth and black sand the Colormax's just would not penetrate deep enough for me. I do run a 2x54w with Colormax and actinics on the oscar tank(white pool filter sand) and love the combination. So long story short the answer should be yes.

 

[TankBoss]

I use Colormax bulbs by Coralife and would have run all Colomax bulbs with actinics but I have a reef ready tank with is 29in deep, so with that depth and black sand the Colormax's just would not penetrate deep enough for me. I do run a 2x54w with Colormax and actinics on the oscar tank(white pool filter sand) and love the combination. So long story short the answer should be yes.

Thanks again. I will be running a colormax or wavepoint (dont know which is better yet) but for now I seem to have found my main problem. My fixture was positioned at the furthest rear area of my tank, which is silly since I view from the front. My canopy won't allow for it to sit at the front so I positioned it dead center. Looking much better now.

 

[TankBoss]

I decided to replace my 10000k with a 6500k ultra sun super daylight bulb... beautiful.

 

[doogle]

ithink you should try running 2xcolormax and 2x 6700k daylights for a natural but high color look , and better for plants than actinic.

 

[TankBoss]

For what its worth... here's a pic of my new double 54watt t5 ho. One 10000k bulb and one actinic on a 55 gallon. If your tank is bigger than 55 I say a quad def overkill.

I'm definitely in the quad camp now. Next tank I will definitely go big on filtration and lighting.

 

[carey]

After alot of consideration I've decided since I'm not gonna go with live plants I am going to keep my stock lighting hood. I replaced the black plastic with the glass canopy and the two fixtures fit perfect on it.

This mean I'm running 30 watts total on a 55 gallon. Is this too little? If not I will go with the 48" dual T5.

Sound good?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Too little for what? You said you're not doing plants right? If that's the case, then no light is fine. My lights are only on my african tank when I feed them or when I take pictures of them.

 

[carey]

Yep. I kinda figured. I just love watching them and the tank is my centerpiece so I wanted it to look it's best.

My 29 has the t5's and it looks phenomenal!

But if I won't see a huge difference then I'll keep the stocks.

Thanks for the quick reply

 

[carey]

Oh, one more thing....java moss needs more than 30 watts right? That was the only plant I was considering given the cichlids....

 

[mfdrookie516]

That and anubias would be the only two plants I would try... and even anubias is a long shot. They would probably be ok with that lighting, they'd just grow really slow..

 

[carey]

Very cool. Thanks for the info, very much appreciated.

 

[doogle]

i got standard single bright l.e.d. on my cichlid tank, the light grows algae but not to fast, and its very clean and clear looking light that looks very natural. i had them under daylight(yellowish) and powerglo(pinkish) ands the colors really pop out with colormax bulbs, espeacally the oranges and blues. but im happy with the cleaner l.e.d. lights i just wish i had the double bright lights... lunar lights are awesome too. i also have anubias and tropical fern(dark green)plants and baby tears. they leave all these plants alone. check out my pics.