Lighting for 55 Tank

[MyanRan]

So, I was looking to upgrade my fixture and lights on my 55 gallon corner tank. The depth is roughly 24 inches and the bulbs that are used right now are 24" T8. I was looking into this Finnex Ray 2 light, and it just seems stunning to say the least! From my understanding this light would be more than capable of lighting my tank. Would it classify it under "High Lighting"? I was looking a the options and the standard setup seems to be dual 7000k LEDs? Is there anywhere you guys would recommend buying this thing? The sight I was looking at said it cost 94.99, and that's without the shipping. I live in Canada fyi.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Maybe have your lfs order it for you?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I have the Ray 2 on my 26g and 6g. But my 26g is the taller tank at roughly 21". Taking into consideration the few inches of substrate, it's about 18" from light to substrate. As you may already know, distance affects the PAR value. Anyway, due to the height, I'm getting "medium" lighting from it. In my 6g, it's very high light.

With medium lighting, co2, and pps-pro dosing regimen, I'm getting great growth in my 26g. Just don't expect high light plants that color up in red hues under intense lighting to do this under the ray2 at that distance. However, I'm getting more than satisfactory growth with little heat generated and efficient energy consumption from the Finnex.

Check out my thread to see more...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...irst-dutch-inspired-scape-journal-235192.html

 

[MyanRan]

Hey thanks for the advice. How does it affect your 6 gallon? That would be very high lighting, right? Do you have plants that actually become red from the light? I would definitely dose PPS-Pro and CO2 if I got this light. With substrate in my tank the light I have right now is about 22" from the substrate.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Well on my 6g, I'm using a 16" ray 2. The lighting was pretty intense to sit the fixture right on the tank, so i suspended it. It's about 12" from light to sub so my plants color up easy.



What size fixture would you need for a 55g corner tank? What kind of plants do you want to keep?


Here's a PAR scale to determine what the values equate to:

*Values between 30-80 are considered*mediumlight.
*Values between 80-120 are considered*high*light.

And here's the PAR values on the Fugeray and Ray 2 of various sizes versus distance.

 

[MyanRan]

I would need the 24" fixture. I don't really know what plants I would grow if I got that setup, but right now I have a rotala indica, bacopa, jungle val, dwarf four leaf clover, and anubias frazeri.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Well just skim through my 26g build thread and see the progression of growth. Towards the end, I have a side by side time lapse picture of 8 weeks of growth under a a Ray 2. I inject co2, dose dry ferts via the PPS-Pro method, and have a photoperiod of 6 to 7 hours. I think you'd get similar results of these conditions were followed. You should also add in some more fast growing stem plants to avoid algae and I think you'd be good. However, if your goal is to get plants like the rotala species to color up, you might want to find more intense lighting. My Alternanthera reineckii and ludwigia sp. Red stay red though.

 

[MyanRan]

Thanks for the response Brian! I will be doing the best I can with this tank, but I have plans to build up a new tank in the coming months! Hopefully similar to I believe yours, (and Bill's) tanks. I absolutely love them and need to create one for myself!