Lighting tubes

[Mark Hewitt]

I'm looking at options to light my 48" long tank.
My hood has fitments for a single tube about 38" long and I'm concerned that a tube of this length would be too bright for my fish, especially as the tank will be only 15" deep at the most. They are already scared of the 5W bulbs I have in my current tank!

I've been looking at some tubes made by Interpet which have built in reflectors, i.e. one side of the tube is painted silver. Would it be ok to just mount this upside down in the hood such that there is no direct light into the tank?

It's a fish only tank so only need enough light to see the fish by!

 

[BillD]

A single 48" tube is not too bright for a 15" deep tank. I have 3 of them over a 12" deep tank with no issues.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

A single 48" tube is not too bright for a 15" deep tank. I have 3 of them over a 12" deep tank with no issues.

Thanks for that. It won't be a 48" tube anyway, from the looks of the hood it'll be more like 38" I think.

 

[BigJim]

+1

Fish may dart around a bit when the lights first come on or go off, but they should get used to the lights. 5W bulbs are are nothing really. Maybe you could leave your lights on for a period during the day so the fish acclimate to the light.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

They've had lights 5 hours a day for nearly a year now (all day at weekends) so if they were going to get used to it they would by now. The black skirts I hardly see when the lights are on and the rest of the fish are noticeable subdued compared to when the tank is dark.

Still; I think if I get some floating plants etc it should be fine!