29 gallon needs better lighting...

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Daven

Daven

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 20, 2015
Messages
492
Location
Saskatchewan (Canada)
My tank is 30x12" and only came with a 24" t12 bulb which i cant even seem to find bulbs other than the yellowy-white colour. Im only looking to go with low to medium light plants so i dont need anything crazy. Are those LED hoods like the Marineland one any good? I cant seem to find anything else, perhaps im looking in the wrong interwebs lol I am unfamiliar with lighting spectrums to begin with and LEDs are even further from me. DIY may also be an option since i dont mind tinkering with electronics, as long as it can look nice afterwards
 
Brian_Nano12g said:
How tall is the tank? What's your budget on lighting?
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it is 30" high x 12" deep x 18" tall. And budget-wise... Well cheaper is nice but if itll make the difference ill spend more. Ive heard of LED setups that could simulate daytime and night and i thought it would be cool to have some light on even when it is "off" if thats possible. I wont be trying to grow anything crazy, but id like to have some live plants in there and id of course love to bring out the colours in my fish. My girlfriend's tank has a single 24" t8 aquaglow and i like how the fish look when in the light but they get pretty much no light towards the front where the light doesnt hit. Maybe something with dual bulbs?
 
T5 HO lighting is pretty good too. You can get good color out your fish and plants from it.
 
Hi Daven,

I use 2 x Aqua One PlantGlo LED lighting on my 4x2x2 planted. LED is a bit expensive up front but cheap to run and the plants seem to grow well under it. Also the light really makes the colors come out in the fish.
 
Daven said:
Do they come in kits that id have to retrofit into my housing? Or should i be able to find hood with them installed?
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Here is the fixture that I have: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13822+29414&pcatid=29414. I get high light out of this fixture. You mentioned that you want to have low/medium light plants. You could get a high light fixture, but you'd most likely have to get a CO2 system, which would just be an added cost in your case. If I were you, I'd get an LED system that was suited for a medium-tech tank (ferts and liquid carbon, no CO2 injection). I'm sure the LED plant fanatics will give you some options as I'm no LED expert.
 
fishenthusiast said:
Here is the fixture that I have: AquaticLife Marquis Dual-Lamp T5HO Freshwater Aquarium Light Fixture: Aquarium Lighting. I get high light out of this fixture. You mentioned that you want to have low/medium light plants. You could get a high light fixture, but you'd most likely have to get a CO2 system, which would just be an added cost in your case. If I were you, I'd get an LED system that was suited for a medium-tech tank (ferts and liquid carbon, no CO2 injection). I'm sure the LED plant fanatics will give you some options as I'm no LED expert.
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Thanks for the advice. Im only really saying lower light for right now because of the extra cost and maintenance. Id rather focus on starting out my tank and learning that with some lower light plants for now to have something, and then once i have that 100% down id consider higher up the line. Could any of the high output LED sets have a dimmer by chance? So i could dim it to not be overdone and eventually have the power for when i got into higher lighted options
 
Daven said:
Thanks for the advice. Im only really saying lower light for right now because of the extra cost and maintenance. Id rather focus on starting out my tank and learning that with some lower light plants for now to have something, and then once i have that 100% down id consider higher up the line. Could any of the high output LED sets have a dimmer by chance? So i could dim it to not be overdone and eventually have the power for when i got into higher lighted options
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Yes. There are LED systems that come with dimmers. I'd contact Brookster about this. He runs a BML on one of his tanks.
 
pittbully13 said:
Brookster and I both converted our tank hoods with great success. Check this out Pittbully's DIY cfl hood conversion! By brookster - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community

Pittbully's DIY cfl hood conversion! By brookster

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
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Thats an option for sure. But how do the bulbs do spectrum-wise? Im pretty new to all the specifics, but i thought regular bulbs didnt produce the right blues and reds needed and instead focused on the greens (to light up a room as the original purpose is).

I managed to find a T12 bulb in town that claims to be wide spectrum for plants and aquarium. Quick specs: 24" T12 20w, 750 lumens, 90 cri, and 3100k temp light. Definately nothing special, but considering i googled for a while and could even find a wide spectrum bulb in t12, ill take it for now! lol Does bring back some colour to the tank so thats good. While i still have this one running, do you think it will help things if i lined the inside of my housing with foil tape to reflect better? Id assume it could only help since its not reflective (plain white plastic). I have plenty of the stuff at work anyways :p
 
Daven said:
Thats an option for sure. But how do the bulbs do spectrum-wise? Im pretty new to all the specifics, but i thought regular bulbs didnt produce the right blues and reds needed and instead focused on the greens (to light up a room as the original purpose is).

I managed to find a T12 bulb in town that claims to be wide spectrum for plants and aquarium. Quick specs: 24" T12 20w, 750 lumens, 90 cri, and 3100k temp light. Definately nothing special, but considering i googled for a while and could even find a wide spectrum bulb in t12, ill take it for now! lol Does bring back some colour to the tank so thats good. While i still have this one running, do you think it will help things if i lined the inside of my housing with foil tape to reflect better? Id assume it could only help since its not reflective (plain white plastic). I have plenty of the stuff at work anyways :p
Click to expand...

Tipically your looking for between 5000k-7000k for optimal plant growth..

Getcha feet wet fish tank people!
 
tiger terror said:
Tipically your looking for between 5000k-7000k for optimal plant growth..

Getcha feet wet fish tank people!
Click to expand...

Yeah i seen that before. This is what i found on an online user manual thing that states the specs for all the bulbs they have. Doesnt say on the box other than lumens, cri, and that its wide spectrum. So probably not the best temp, but better than "cool white" lol
 
You could use reflective tape, but I just planted the inside of mine white. I ran it on my 29g tank for 1 and a half year before I went leds, but it worked great high low light/ low med light. 5k-7k is a good range for light color temp. I used 4 23watt cfls at 65k and mixed in 5ks from time to time.

Sent from my Z667T using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 

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pittbully13 said:
You could use reflective tape, but I just planted the inside of mine white. I ran it on my 29g tank for 1 and a half year before I went leds, but it worked great high low light/ low med light. 5k-7k is a good range for light color temp. I used 4 23watt cfls at 65k and mixed in 5ks from time to time.

Sent from my Z667T using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Click to expand...

how even is the input of the quad lights like that? Any dead spots? And do those bulb produce the right light for plants as in the kinds you cant see persay?
 
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