Best lighting fixture for a future 29 gallon heavily planted tank.

[Jmenehan2]

So I know that the rule of thumb for the planted tanks is 2wpg, but I'm not really sure on what light would be best for the tank. I would prefer a light that would sit above the aquarium since I have no hood. I was looking online at the Nova Extreme T5 HO Freshwater Aquarium light fixture but unfortunately the two lights combined only amount to 48W.. I do plan on setting up a DIY C02 system and going all out on the substrate and plant nutrients. Any suggestions would be very helpful.

 

[Jmenehan2]

Anyone?

 

[Bengals]

I have a 29g as well and bought a finnex ray 2 (30 inches). It should be delivered tomorrow or Saturday I hope so I'll let you know. The stock light on my 29g is worthless for plants. I wanted medium light which it should provide for the 18 inch depth. What sort of budget are you looking at?

 

[Jmenehan2]

I have a 29g as well and bought a finnex ray 2 (30 inches). It should be delivered tomorrow or Saturday I hope so I'll let you know. The stock light on my 29g is worthless for plants. I wanted medium light which it should provide for the 18 inch depth. What sort of budget are you looking at?

I would really like a fixture that could hold 3 lights. I looked at my local Walmart and they went from 24 inch to 36 inch. The 24s were 20 watts each so if a fixture could hold 3 it would be perfect. Cost is not an issue, I just want a lighting system that will get me at or past 2wpg.

 

[Julianciraco]

I have a 29g planted, I built my own led fixture from rapidled.com.
I bought everything and wired it and **** and they are putting up to 3.3W each led, 14 LEDs, plants are goin crazy now, and the advantage is that I won't ever need to replace cause bulbs die
Off.

 

[Rivercats]

WPG don't work for today's new lighting fixtures like LED's, T5HO's, and others. There are some good articles around that explain about Par, Lux, Lumens, and such. I know a few people who use Finnex LED fixtures and get very good growth on their planted tanks. A 2 bulb T5HO fixture over a 29g will grow up to med light plants. I have 3 such fixtures and if 6000K Geisemann Midday bulbs are used you get very good color and growth on your plants. In a 2 bulb fixture I don't recommend using a "pink" bulb because while the color temp emitted is great for plants it makes a very dull light to the human eye. If you want high light you would have to go with a 4 bulb fixture which is alot of light. With such a light you would have to use CO2 or use a high dosage of liquid carbon like I do in my 220g that has T5HO's and Metal Halides. I can also only run my Halides 6 hours max a day. Planting a tank as heavily as possible also helps when using high lights. My 220g is now 100% planted.

 

[jefferzbooboo]

This is a rough guide

 

[Jmenehan2]

WPG don't work for today's new lighting fixtures like LED's, T5HO's, and others. There are some good articles around that explain about Par, Lux, Lumens, and such. I know a few people who use Finnex LED fixtures and get very good growth on their planted tanks. A 2 bulb T5HO fixture over a 29g will grow up to med light plants. I have 3 such fixtures and if 6000K Geisemann Midday bulbs are used you get very good color and growth on your plants. In a 2 bulb fixture I don't recommend using a "pink" bulb because while the color temp emitted is great for plants it makes a very dull light to the human eye. If you want high light you would have to go with a 4 bulb fixture which is alot of light. With such a light you would have to use CO2 or use a high dosage of liquid carbon like I do in my 220g that has T5HO's and Metal Halides. I can also only run my Halides 6 hours max a day. Planting a tank as heavily as possible also helps when using high lights. My 220g is now 100% planted.

Do you know of a 4 bulb fixture for a 29 gallon and where to get one?

 

[Rivercats]

Just type in 4 bulb T5HO fixtures for sale and you'll get lots of places to compare prices at. I got several of mine at Marine and Reef BUT be sure to read the type of bulbs the fixture comes with. You usually order either freshwater or saltwater ready fixture so be sure to read. SW bulbs are not suitable for FW usage.

 

[Jmenehan2]

Just type in 4 bulb T5HO fixtures for sale and you'll get lots of places to compare prices at. I got several of mine at Marine and Reef BUT be sure to read the type of bulbs the fixture comes with. You usually order either freshwater or saltwater ready fixture so be sure to read. SW bulbs are not suitable for FW usage.

This doesn't specify the kind of lights it comes with but could I put 20 watt lights from Walmart into it?

 

[Rivercats]

You want a fixture with good reflectors so if that one has them I don't see why it wouldn't work. I've never used anything like it. Plus if you do get it I wouldn't think about changing bulbs till you see what comes with it.

 

[Jmenehan2]

This is quite frustrating since I can't physically exam these lights myself. Does anyone know of a 3 light 24 inch fixture?

 

[tiger terror]

Does the product info say anything about the fixture being moisture resistant? Bulbs you'll be looking for are t5's between 5000k-7000k...

 

[Jmenehan2]

So I decided to go with a 24 inch T5 4 light fixture. I'm not sure what wattage it comes with but the unit looks promising with good reflectors. Does anybody put an ac130 elite over a glass Co2 diffuser when hooked up to a DIY Co2 system?

 

[Jmenehan2]

Like I said in my previous post, I purchased the EnviroGro flt24 T5 4-Light fixture. My question is whether the fixture should be placed over a versa-top or if it would be okay sitting so close to the surface of the water. I've seen many posts about metal halide lights getting hot and that a single splash from the tank will cause them to explode. I notice that the T5s get warmer than the T8s, just not sure if they would be susceptible to the same fate as the metal halides. Nobody likes glass in their aquarium Any responses would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Mebbid]

I also have a 29g planted tank. From what I've seen on par values a 2 bulb t5ho fixture will give you a high light level in your tank. I bought a coralife light fixture and its working really well, my plants started growing like crazy

 

[jefferzbooboo]

If the light doesn't have a glass panel then definitely put a versa top on. I'd be more worried about the insides rusting rather than the light bulb breaking. It looks like you got a fixture with T5 bulbs, make sure you don't get T5HO's when you go to buy new bulbs.

 

[Jmenehan2]

If the light doesn't have a glass panel then definitely put a versa top on. I'd be more worried about the insides rusting rather than the light bulb breaking. It looks like you got a fixture with T5 bulbs, make sure you don't get T5HO's when you go to buy new bulbs.

Thank you for the reply
All the bulbs are 24 watt 64K. I'll get a versa top or maybe a canopy along with it. The fixture only has two metal parts to hang it so I'm not sure how I'm going to mount it yet. I'm not sure how far up the light should be either.

 

[Jmenehan2]

I also have a 29g planted tank. From what I've seen on par values a 2 bulb t5ho fixture will give you a high light level in your tank. I bought a coralife light fixture and its working really well, my plants started growing like crazy

What plants did you decide to go with? I'm having a hard time finding some of the mosses and different types of plants that I want. The local pet store has some that are alright but stuff like hornwort just look unattractive in my opinion.

 

[Rivercats]

Like I said in my previous post, I purchased the EnviroGro flt24 T5 4-Light fixture. My question is whether the fixture should be placed over a versa-top or if it would be okay sitting so close to the surface of the water. I've seen many posts about metal halide lights getting hot and that a single splash from the tank will cause them to explode. I notice that the T5s get warmer than the T8s, just not sure if they would be susceptible to the same fate as the metal halides. Nobody likes glass in their aquarium Any responses would be greatly appreciated!!

I have a 220g with T5HO's and Metal Halides and I have an open top tank. In fact all my tanks are open top and the rest of the tanks have T5HO's on them. Todays fixtures (at least most of them) come with either plastic or special glass to cover bulbs and they are fine for using over open tops. My halides run 6 hours a day and have special glass bottom covers and they get splashed without incident. I ran my reef tanks open top with halides also years ago. My T5HO's run 10 hours a day on the same tank. IMO using a cover of some type now days is a personal choice. I would recommend one if you have fish known to be jumpers but otherwise in a planted tank I like light to be fully available to plants without a glass barrier to cut the amount of lighting down going into a tank.