Cost effective light setup

[mushroombrew]

Hey guys, I'm looking for some lighting advice. I have a 38 gallon tropical freshwater glass tank with a 36" wide rim and I'd like to get it nicely planted but all I have is the stock light that came with it. It's just a cheap single 24" T8 fixture that I've got a Flora*Sun bulb installed in. Something like 18 watts. I am wanting to do an upgrade to about 2-3 watts per gallon and am prepared to use CO2 afterwards as well. I would very much like to get something in the $150 range that is decent quality-wise if at all possible. I don't necessarily need a built in timer or moon lights. The only light I was able to find in that price range is the Quad T5 Odyssea unit, but reviews of them had nothing nice to say. LED lights would be fine, but I have no idea what lumen output/price I would be looking at. Is there anything worth buying out there that meets those criteria or what would you guys recommend? I got far better advice here on the fish-in cycle I was having issues with than anywhere else so this seemed to be the place to ask.

 

[blert]

How deep is the tank?

 

[mushroombrew]

It's 16" from the water surface to the gravel. I did find this other light in the meantime:

Amazon.com: Odyssea 36" T5 HO Quad Aquarium Light Fluorescent Hood Fixture w/4 LED - Plant 4x39W: Pet Supplies

The plant version doesn't have any reviews but the marine version gets about 4 stars out of 5. Not sure if the bulbs in the plant version are worth a cuss anyway, but there it is.

 

[Mr.Pleco]

Quad's to me seems like it might be overkill for a tank that size . It'll scorch it. I have 2 Deep Blue t5 HO's on my 55 planted. I have 4 fixtures total, never had any problems and they are in your range.

 

[mushroombrew]

Thanks for the input. Do you recommend a particular brand/model? I just keep seeing these pics of gorgeous planted tanks with such vibrant colors and I want my tank to look that way too. There are so many options out there it's hard to know where to even start...

 

[blert]

Quad would be overkill for that tank but if you want that fixture order it directly from AquaTraders, it's cheaper and free shipping.
I would go at most dual t5ho and you will still need CO2 and ferts. Possibly even t5no or dual t8.

 

[Mr.Pleco]

Amazon.com: Db Solarmaxh02 Double T5 Ho Strip W/led 36": Pet Supplies
that's what I'm running. What people don't realize is all the hard work that goes into making the tanks look so nice. Most of them dose dry ferts every day or every few days, as well as having a co2 system.
Most people buy different bulbs too since most fixtures don't come with the ideal bulb combos.

I did a lot of research on fixtures before I bought mine and I've been super happy with what I've bought. I recommended them to my buddy who has a planted tank as well and his is taking off. The bigger brands are going to be more expensive.

 

[mushroombrew]

The solarmax light still gets the tank within the 2 watt per gallon range so I'm perfectly happy with that. The price is right in the sweet spot too. This is exactly the type of advice I wanted to see. I'm willing to take the time and effort to do what's necessary to make a beautiful, healthy tank, but it really helps to get advice from people in the know instead of wasting money taking shots in the dark. I really appreciate the help.

 

[Mr.Pleco]

Perfect. If you need anything else I'll see if I can help. We all start off in the dark. Keep researching and you'll be helping people in no time. I'd tell you to look at my pictures but those are the old setups. Forgot I never updated the pictures after I switched the tanks around.

 

[phishfriend]

Here is a great write up and it shows results from different lights.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=184368

 

[mushroombrew]

Awesome. I'm still in the tail end of the nitrogen cycle and just got a Marineland Penguin 350 filter to replace the stock filter (which will no doubt slow down the process) so I'm going to give it a month or so to even out before buying a new fixture and taking the next step. It's going to be an awesome centerpiece for the reading room.

The amount i've learned from this site over the last few days alone is insane. I've had a few tanks in the past and all I measured was Ph! I guess I was just lucky my fish didn't drop like flies, but back then I didn't have the benefit of the internet seeing as how it didn't really exist... I'm going to check out your link too, phish, but probably tomorrow evening. It's getting late and I've got to hit the sack. Again, I appreciate all the help with this.

 

[phishfriend]

Awesome. I'm still in the tail end of the nitrogen cycle and just got a Marineland Penguin 350 filter to replace the stock filter (which will no doubt slow down the process) so I'm going to give it a month or so to even out before buying a new fixture and taking the next step. It's going to be an awesome centerpiece for the reading room.

The amount i've learned from this site over the last few days alone is insane. I've had a few tanks in the past and all I measured was Ph! I guess I was just lucky my fish didn't drop like flies, but back then I didn't have the benefit of the internet seeing as how it didn't really exist... I'm going to check out your link too, phish, but probably tomorrow evening. It's getting late and I've got to hit the sack. Again, I appreciate all the help with this.

Just run both filters. Don't swap them out! I you run them together the one your replacing will seed the 350 and continue the cycle. Then in a few weeks remove the one.

 

[mushroombrew]

Yeah. heh heh... learning curve and all that... i tossed the old filter cartridges before i learned that. Read about it right after the fact. At least it's a mistake I won't be needing to ever make again, right?

 

[phishfriend]

Yeah. heh heh... learning curve and all that... i tossed the old filter cartridges before i learned that. At least it's a mistake I won't be needing to ever make again, right?

That's the truth! Well I hope it doesn't set you back to much. Also for what it's worth. I'm running four 6500k CFL's using 8"dome work lights all from lowe's with a cost of around 45bucks.



It's easily a med light if not borderline high. Just food for thought.

 

[azmodan]

I'd definitely recommend asking the friendly folks on AA's planted tanks subforum. You'll get lots more great suggestions!

 

[misterpenguin4]

I myself was also looking for a cost effective way to have a nice plant setup. The Finex fugeray should be good. But you could get the ray 2 which is a little better. I have the fugeray on a 10 gallon and it grows my plants fine.