light plans

[onah]

hey guys i am going to build a canopy for my 55g, and i want to know what kind of bulbs i should get for the fixture, its prob just going to be a shop light fixture of some sorts, thats ok right? they have fans and i fig it would be the perfect size or no?

 

[JDogg]

on my 75 gallon tank i built into the canopy 4 48" t-8 bulbs, my plants are growing well
i do not know what light level you are going for, but if you are using shop lights i would suggest you make sure to get one that takes t-8 fluorescent bulbs, you might need to replace the ballast. but that is not hard, imo.

two 48" T-8 bulbs would give you ~1.7 wpg
3=~2.6 wpg
4=~3.5 wpg

HTH

 

[onah]

yeah i want to go as high as i can with out co2 injection. some where around medium\high i think?

 

[JDogg]

yeah i want to go as high as i can with out co2 injection. some where around medium\high i think?

4 t-8 should do you good then, it maybe be a tight fit though :? i just built mine into the wood canopy, two bulbs on the door and two along the back, but if you do not have to worry about the hinge, then you should be able to squeeze 4 into the narrower 55.

 

[docrak]

Go with a 48" Power Compact Strip Light with 4 X 64 watt bulbs. A fixture such as this Coralife will allow you to control each bulb with a timer so that you can have 2 w/g or 4w/g at any time of the day.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...life48aqualightpowercompactstriplight4x65watt

 

[JDogg]

Go with a 48" Power Compact Strip Light with 4 X 64 watt bulbs. A fixture such as this Coralife will allow you to control each bulb with a timer so that you can have 2 w/g or 4w/g at any time of the day.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...life48aqualightpowercompactstriplight4x65watt

depending on your budget that would be good, but my way is cheaper

 

[docrak]

on my 75 gallon tank i built into the canopy 4 48" t-8 bulbs, my plants are growing well
i do not know what light level you are going for, but if you are using shop lights i would suggest you make sure to get one that takes t-8 fluorescent bulbs, you might need to replace the ballast. but that is not hard, imo.

two 48" T-8 bulbs would give you ~1.7 wpg
3=~2.6 wpg
4=~3.5 wpg

HTH

Yes, but I'm not sure you could get those light levels with a t-8 bulb. The brightest 48" bulb I've found was 40 watts on average in a t-12. You could go VHO but your cost is the same if not more in some cases. At 40w/p you would get:

2=~1.45 wpg
3=~2.18 wpg
4=~2.91 wpg

I'm also not sure if the lamps are controlled by one ballast or mutiple. Of course depending on your situation this may be an adequate solution. The cost of going with t-8 or t-12 is about half as much as compact fluorescent. In the end it comes down to the user.

 

[rkilling1]

yeah i want to go as high as i can with out co2 injection. some where around medium\high i think?

4 t-8 should do you good then, it maybe be a tight fit though :? i just built mine into the wood canopy, two bulbs on the door and two along the back, but if you do not have to worry about the hinge, then you should be able to squeeze 4 into the narrower 55.

Go with a 48" Power Compact Strip Light with 4 X 64 watt bulbs. A fixture such as this Coralife will allow you to control each bulb with a timer so that you can have 2 w/g or 4w/g at any time of the day.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...life48aqualightpowercompactstriplight4x65watt

Maybe I'm just not reading this right, but onah said he wanted the highest he could go WITHOUT having CO2. which means we are looking at around 2 WPG.

So the only viable solution would be one shoplight with 2 T-8's or the equivalent.

docrak, JDogg was giving WPG based on lumens not actual wattage. T-8's are more efficient then T-12's and therefore give off more light per watt. Remember the WPG rule was based on T-12's.

reference: http://woo.gotdns.com/Aquarium/Lighting.htm

calc's: 2 (bulbs) x 32 (watts) x 1.49 (T8 outputs 149% of the light that a T12 does) / 55 (tank size) = 1.73 WPG (JDogg's WPG)

Ok now lets look at the light you posted docrak,

first off it has two Actinic bulbs which are just a waste of money for growing plants. but anyways,

4 (bulbs) x 64 (watts) x 1.35 (Compact Fluorescents are more efficient then T-12's, but not as efficient as T-8's) / 55 (tank size) = 6.28 WPG of course this would be if you replaced the acinic bulbs.

 

[docrak]

Maybe I'm just not reading this right, but onah said he wanted the highest he could go WITHOUT having CO2. which means we are looking at around 2 WPG.

So the only viable solution would be one shoplight with 2 T-8's or the equivalent.

docrak, JDogg was giving WPG based on lumens not actual wattage. T-8's are more efficient then T-12's and therefore give off more light per watt. Remember the WPG rule was based on T-12's.

reference: http://woo.gotdns.com/Aquarium/Lighting.htm

calc's: 2 (bulbs) x 32 (watts) x 1.49 (T8 outputs 149% of the light that a T12 does) / 55 (tank size) = 1.73 WPG (JDogg's WPG)

Ok now lets look at the light you posted docrak,

first off it has two Actinic bulbs which are just a waste of money for growing plants. but anyways,

4 (bulbs) x 64 (watts) x 1.35 (Compact Fluorescents are more efficient then T-12's, but not as efficient as T-8's) / 55 (tank size) = 6.28 WPG of course this would be if you replaced the acinic bulbs.

Everybody is a critic. It is true that a t-8 gives out more light out put than a t-12 but not in all cases. Different brands with different Kelvin rating produce different lumens. T-8 dims quicker, they have a lower designed luminance than initial luminance. The difference is slight, but a t-12 will last longer. Either way I will acknowledge that WPG is not the best way to calculate lighting and am willing to accept Jdoggs numbers. By the way; great link.

Did you actually think I was recommending that he buy that that fixture. I was using it as an example:

A fixture such as this Coralife

I was trying to show that a fixture with 4 CF bulbs would give him more versatility and options that a t-8 or t-12 fixture. It's very difficult to find a 4 bulb CF fixture without actinic bulbs, and yes they would need to be replaced if you purchased a salt water fixture for fresh water.

Either way I think lighting is one of the most difficult factors in planning a planted tank. I just purchased a 2 bulb 48" CF fixture for my 55g tank. I plan on putting some plants in there and figure that that fixture should give me medium to med/high lighting. I don't plan on using CO2 either but will be dosing Excel.

 

[rkilling1]

I need to learn to interject more feelings into my posts. I guess I came across a little harsh, sorry.

Coralife is by far one of the best lights you can purchase and they do make a FW CF fixture with the correct lights already installed for use planted guys: http://www.esuweb.com/cardfile.asp?ItemNumber=53116&IDProductRelationship=254 , but you are right, it is hard to find.

"I don't plan on using CO2 either but will be dosing Excel." That's a lot of Excel.

 

[JDogg]

Maybe I'm just not reading this right, but onah said he wanted the highest he could go WITHOUT having CO2. which means we are looking at around 2 WPG.

So the only viable solution would be one shoplight with 2 T-8's or the equivalent.

yea i know i was just giving a break down of the options...

 

[docrak]

I need to learn to interject more feelings into my posts. I guess I came across a little harsh, sorry.

"I don't plan on using CO2 either but will be dosing Excel." That's a lot of Excel.

I think I have the same problem. Sometimes even I come on to strong and end up offending where no offence is intended.

I use about 6 gallons a year of Excel. That's a fair bit but it's still cheaper than going to CO2 on three tanks. I spend a couple months each year in the Middle East. At that time I run my tanks at minimum operating conditions with no maintains or input.