Coralife PC lighting

[graf]

Hi all!

I have a question about Coralife Aqualight FRESHWATER. It’s 2x65W on my 29 gallon tank . I’ve been using this fixture for a year now. It looks to me this unit is not spreading light evenly. Both corners are kind of dark and all my corner plants are growing at 20-30 degree angle toward the center of coralife fixture.
Do you have similar experience with that unit?
What about PC fixtures from different aquarium lighting manufacturers? Same thing?

 

[gfink]

I just order one of those lights for my 29. Aren't the bulbs staggered underneath? (wires come from opposite ends) So it makes sense that there is more light in the center where the bulbs overlap (side by side), and less at the edges where there is essentially only one bulb.

 

[graf]

That`s what it is - one bulb on both ends and two in the middle.
It`s getting on my nerves though because of my plants not growing straight.
Do different 30" PC fixtures have the same setup?

 

[gfink]

I think so. 65W PC bulb is 22" long. The next one up is 96W and that is 34" long. Since the 29Gal is 30" long, you can only fit 2 65W bulbs. You can rearrange them any way you want, but there will still be some overlapped areas, and some "single" bulb areas along the length of your hood.

Is it really that bad?

 

[malkore]

When I ran 2x55w lighting on my 29gal, I had my own custom built canopy, and I staggered teh two bulbs. This way I had a slightly dim front right corner, and rear left corner. plants grew as vertically as you could expect.

Even though 29 is a normal size, it's an odd size for PC lighting, as you've found.

 

[graf]

Malkore. What kind of bulbs did you put in? I was thinking about the same thing - just adding two extra light sources.