55 Gallon lighting oppinion

[justsomedude89]

marineland $187.49
Aquarium Lighting: Marineland T5-48 Deluxe 48" Deluxe T5 Daylight/Actinic Light

or

nova extreme $197.99
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13822+12772&pcatid=12772http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13822+16771&pcatid=16771

or should i get something else... its for a 55 gallon heavily planted with co2. also will i need to change out the antic bulbs to plant bulbs on these?

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

If you want a good light for higher lighting since your using CO2, for the money this is the best deal. Its better than either of those fixtures IMO and cheaper. Actinic doesnt really count for watts in FW(or SW either I think?)

Catalina Aquarium


Otherwise look into the Nova fixtures.

If you want less light then the 2x54w Nova would be good. You know there are many people that run 2wpg or less with CO2 and have very nice tanks. This is one that I like and has 1.6wpg of T5's:
Avalon's 100g

 

[justsomedude89]

wow that tank is beautiful hmm now i gotta rething my plans...

 

[justsomedude89]

can any1 confirm the use of antic in planted tanks?

 

[rkilling1]

can any1 confirm the use of antic in planted tanks?

The 03 type lighting only (mostly) puts out light in the blue spectrum (~450 nm). Plants need more then just blue to grow and therefore shouldn't be added into your WPG calc's.

 

[justsomedude89]

all of the T5 lighting i have found comes with 2 daylight and 2 antic am i stuck having to replace 2 bulbs or should i look intoa diff type of lighting?

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Hey if you want that Catalina light fixture, just call them and they will give you 4 bulbs for plants at no charge from what I've read.

Many of the 4 bulb fixtures come with actinic b/c its alot of light and they figure people need it for SW.

You can get the Nova fixtures with 2x54 FW bulbs also, heres the best prices I've seen on them
Current USA Nova Extreme T5 HOx2

 

[FishEggs]

if you go with the fixture speed linked (catalina aquarium) you can call them and i believe they will switch out the 2 actinic bulbs for daylight bulbs at no charge.
also the advantage to the catalina fixture is the individual parabolic reflectors which will put more of the lumens in the tank than the other 2. i'm not sure how much extra the fans would be but i would add them to the fixture and it might still be cheaper than the other 2.

 

[jrp1588]

I bought that exact catalina fixture a few months back. it's a beast. Youo don' even have to call them. i just mentioned under order comments that i would like a certain color bulb, and they changed them at no charge.

 

[justsomedude89]

thats awsome news thnx a lot. i figure going with a 4 bulb setup will allow me to up my light in the future or go Saltwater in the future without buying a new fixture so i think ima go woth this 1

 

[justsomedude89]

so do i just tell them to put 4 of these bulbs in the fixture?
Catalina Aquarium 54W T5 10K COMPACT LIGHT

 

[jrp1588]

that's what i did