Need lights and fixture for 50 gallon tank.

[Gnarls Gnarlington]

I have a new 50 gallon tank (36" x 15" x 20"). The tank came with a lame hood. One 24" T12 or maybe a T8. It can expand to two bulbs for $50 more. But the max watts are 20 per bulb.

So I am thinking of just getting a new fixture that can use better bulbs.

Any suggestions?

I just looked at the Marineland Double Bright LED 24-36" size but I am confused as to how bright they are. Is this a good solution?

[mfdrookie516]

The double bright LED's aren't all that 'bright' haha. You'd need the reef capable LED fixture for plants. I'd look in to a good T5HO unit. You can get one from fishneedit.com (if they aren't still sold out) really cheap, and they're good units (i have 4). 2 bulb if you want lower to medium light... 4 bulb if you're going to do co2 and want some carpet plants, etc. JMO

[Philly33]

I have the marine capable ledwith a single bulb glo T5ho. I love the led, crisp white 10,000k. In my 90g

[Gnarls Gnarlington]

Awesome!

I am getting confused guys. Skip the Marineland one and get something from http://www.fishneedit.com? Which one? (Link please!)

[Gnarls Gnarlington]

NE1?

[jetajockey]

depends on how high tech you are going. If you are going relatively low tech, then plan on running single t5ho or dual t5no's, if you plan on going high tech then a dual t5ho is the way to go. I can't comment on LEDs I don't have much experience with them.

There are several companies that make t5ho fixtures, fishneedit is a good one, catalina is another good one, ahsupply makes nice PC retro kits, and there are several big manufacturer type ones, like hagen glo, coralife, oddysea (the cheapest) and many others.

Here is a PAR chart that has readings taken from different fixtures, you can judge what type of lighting you need based on the height of your tank and whether you want to do a high/med/low setup. It has actual data on it so it beats the straight conjecture that I can give you.
PAR vs Distance, T5, T12, PC - Updated Charts