Lighting?????

[chago09]

Anyone have any good tips for lighting. My tank is realy well planted and I previously had a Marineland Eclipse bulb on my tank and didn't look like it was doing much. I recently added Hagen Aqua Glo. Its a small light fixture only 24". This Hagen bulb I put is supposed to be better for plants and for the fishes colors. I noticed though its almost like a bluey red color light and it's not very bright. Not to happy with it cause my old light was brighter. Does brighter mean better?? Or is this blue one probably better and I just need to live with it that its a little dim in the tank??? Does anyone know any good bulbs that will be good for plants and alos light up the tank. My light fixture is a 24" Flourescent fixture. Please some help would be awesome. thanx

[-gb-]

I have a Coralife 36" Aqualight Power Compact Strip Light with two 96Watt bulbs (6700K) in my 65 gallon. I’ve also kept my old 24" fluorescent fixture as a moon light that comes on first thing in the morning for an hour and again at night an hour after my compact strip goes off at night. Doing this helps the fish not freak-out when 192 watts turn on. (it’s all on timers)

The Compact fluorescents will light-up your tank and your plants will love it.
They are the way to go if you have the $$$

You can also build your own retrofit setup if you are a little handy. (I haven’t used this site but it looks good to me.) http://www.ahsupply.com/96watt.htm

This is what I have:
http://www.esuweb.com/cardfile.asp?ItemNumber=53114&IDProductRelationship=254

[-gb-]

You should also checkout this thread: http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=47078

[diablocanine]

Well you really need to give some detailed info on your tank. From what you have described so far, chances are you have insufficient lighting for a planted tank. Read the article in the previous post. I have some ah supply lights (link in previous post), they work fine. I also use VHO lighting, they work fine.

[chago09]

ya but does brighter mean better??? My old light was some cheap light but it was bright as hell. My new one is supposed to be better for plants and fish but is kinda a blue light so its dim. Is the old one better?

[-gb-]

You are right there is a lot more to it that how bright the light is. There is an article on this page ( http://users.frii.com/gbooth/AquaticConcepts/Articles/AFM_Lighting.htm ) that will explain in great detail all you need to know about lighting.

[tpl*co]

I have the aqualights too on my tanks, I have the double with fans on my 50 bow and a single on my 60 (Hood wouldn't fit a double). I've noticed an increase in my engery bill, but boy do my plants love 'em! (and so do I, they bring out the colors of the fish and the plants are growing!). I got mine off ebay (keep checking for deals there).

Tina

[jeep8rus]

If you're using regular flourescents, say it with me...home depot.

Stop buying those expensive bulbs at the pet stores. For more info on all lighting you should really check out thekrib's indepth anaylsis.

-Russ

[Wahter]

I agree with Russ - if you have and only need a standard normal output lighting, go to your neighborhood home improvement shop. On the other hand, if you want to get into compact fluorescent lighting (typically 3 times more intensity in the same amount of size as a standard fluorescent light), you have lots of kits and ready built options available.

I had a bad experience with http://www.ahsupply.com once. PM me if you want the details.


Walter

[Dissident]

Need tank details before you can pick or even get reccomidations on lights.
How big is the tank, what kind of plants do u want to keep. How much time and extra equipment do you want to devote to a planted tank?