Hello All,
Running two 4'x2' T12 fixtures over my 7' 200G long and the fixture hanging over the edge is driving me nuts. T5HO seems to be a good bet, but I could use advice on the following:
1. Light Fixture Quantity/Size. Should I run two 4', 2-tube fixtures for a total of 216W? These are skinny enough to stagger on top of the aquarium so they overlap in the middle. One 4' and one 3' fixture would fit, but would result in a 14% decrease in lighting wattage (down to 180W).
2. Lamp color? The fixtures I'm looking at (48" T5 HO Aquarium Light Hood Cichlid Marine 108W New | eBay) come with one 10000K bulb and one actinic. Will this be ~14000K? Will it be the wrong color? Looking for bright white, 6700K T12 bulbs appear too blue in my current setup.
3. Ability to grow plants. Even with the two 4' fixtures, I'm only ~1W/gallon. Is this enough to grow some plants? Can I supplement with CO2 for the lighting level? Is this considered "low light"? Will it look dark when viewing?
Thanks!
jkpq45
Running two 4'x2' T12 fixtures over my 7' 200G long and the fixture hanging over the edge is driving me nuts. T5HO seems to be a good bet, but I could use advice on the following:
1. Light Fixture Quantity/Size. Should I run two 4', 2-tube fixtures for a total of 216W? These are skinny enough to stagger on top of the aquarium so they overlap in the middle. One 4' and one 3' fixture would fit, but would result in a 14% decrease in lighting wattage (down to 180W).
2. Lamp color? The fixtures I'm looking at (48" T5 HO Aquarium Light Hood Cichlid Marine 108W New | eBay) come with one 10000K bulb and one actinic. Will this be ~14000K? Will it be the wrong color? Looking for bright white, 6700K T12 bulbs appear too blue in my current setup.
3. Ability to grow plants. Even with the two 4' fixtures, I'm only ~1W/gallon. Is this enough to grow some plants? Can I supplement with CO2 for the lighting level? Is this considered "low light"? Will it look dark when viewing?
Thanks!
jkpq45