Lighting for 75 gallon wild discus tank

[DiscusBR]

Hi all,

I am starting a 75g wild discus tank. I will have driftwood, pool filter sand as substrate, a few plants, and no CO2. I am reading about lighting in this terrific forum and I have learned a lot. However, I cannot decide on the lighting configuration and on a hood that will look nice. I am considering the the following Coralife Aqualight Dual T5 Lamp High Output Fixture:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030YFEP4/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A1ZIOKDYA2KMI2

This fixture comes with two bulbs: one 54 watt 10,0000K Daylight Lamp and one 54 watt Actinic Blue Lamp. This means a total of 108 watts for a 75 gallon tank, or 1.45 watts per gallon. Does it sound as a good configuration? I might not need that much light (I know that wild discus in particular don't like too much light). I have no idea what "10,0000K Daylight Lamp" or "Actinic Blue Lamp" mean. Should I replace any of these two lamps by another with less watts and/or more appropriate to my purposes?

Also, I would appreaciate any suggestion of similar hoods that you might have.

Thanks in advance.

[dbfzurowski]

Hi,
Watts per gallon rule only applies to the old bulbs t12. Location of the fixture plays a big role. T5 lamps are very efficient so its a good choice. I guess it all depends on what plants you want to get, but with no co2 I assume low light one. I think it should be fine but I would replace the blue bulb as its prolly a 20k which is no good for plants.

[prolude006]

You wont even need that much light, and you dont really want actinic blue it is more for salt water systems, shows everything with a tint of blue. I would have bulbs with a 6700k color rating, 10k color rating is a simulated natural daylight which is very white light, not really subdued for discus, in particular wilds. That being said my discus are fine under 260 watts of 10k/6700k blended bulbs. My tank is a 75 gallon too so im running roughly 3w/gallon with the old age of the power compact bulbs. If I was growing plants again i would change them and be in the range of 4w per gallon and add a little C02 to keep the plants booming. I would just first take a normal strip light and put in a 6700k bulb and see how the tank looks when setup, then decide if you need to go with more hi tech lighting.
Now on another subject I will be trying a low low light setup soon with my discus tank using the New LED floodlights that have just come out.
I will be able to spotlight my tank just like metal halides and get the nice ripple effect. They use little energy, produce little heat so no fans, and they are directional light so I can point them in the middle or side and leave dark areas of the tank all at the same time. Also they are water proof for outdoor use so I can take my crappy glass covers off and get better lighting for less. My hood will keep the jumpy discus from jumping out of the tank. Should be a fun project, Ill post up some pics once im done, hopefully it works out.

David

[DiscusBR]

Thank you for your answers:

dbfzurowski: As far as plants are concerned, I will have only some Anubias and Echinodorus and thus I can go low light, which, as you note, is better for wild discus. I will have T5 lights as you suggest.

prolude006: Thanks for all the very useful information. I read about the new LED flood lights, but they sound complicated, especially for a beginner. I will stick with the T5s, but I look forward looking at your pictures.

I am now considering the following lighting system for my 75 gallon tank: AquaticLife T5 HO 2 Lamp Fixture. You can read about it in the following URL:

http://www.marineandreef.com/AquaticLife_48_inch_T5_HO_Lamp_Fixture_Freshwater_ p/ral20145.htm

It comes with one 54 watt 6000K T5 HO lamp and one 54 watt 650nm T5 HO Lamp. Does this set up look right for my purposes? Please advice.

[prolude006]

That should work fine! I am not sold on the 650nm lamps but plants and lighting is still being debated today on the best planted tank sites.
PAR levels are the most important for plants but we don't see that measurement from bulb manufacturers except in some industrial lights and new LED setups. PAR = Photosynthetically active radiation
Using the widest spectrum of light you can seems to be the overall easiest and best way to light a planted tank to me as the plants will use what they want and will get all that we can possibly provide without using the actual sun!!

David

[dbfzurowski]

Well, 650nm wavelength is close to what a 5000k or lower bulb would have which I think will be no good for a 75gal tank. I would definitely go with a 6000k and 10000k bulb. Like David said, PAR is most important when looking at lights. A 5000k(or lower)bulb will be almost useless for your plants on the bottom of your tank as the long wavelength will not produce the necessary PAR required for your plants. I know Anubias are low light plants but they can be hard to grow, look into a good substrate, if you need to dose your water or not with specific minerals.

[Apistomaster]

Order the fixture with at least a 6700K and 10,000K and do not use the actinic tube.
For low tech planted tanks like my 75 gal I use a pair of these. http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/209500/product.web Two of these can be bought for only $135.
They come with a Colormax and a 6700K lamp and Discus look very nice and it isn't overly strong light but enough to grow huge Amazon Swords. The Colomax replacement tubes can be difficult to find sometimes so I often end up using a 6700K and a 10,000K tube. These are Normal Output T-5 fixtures and despite their low wattage they are equivalent to any other normal out put T-8 or T-12 as far as growing plants are concerned and these fixtures run very cool and are very streamlined having a cross section of about 1" X 2-3/4". They are the most efficient lamp available for the price, imo.

[Doc_Polit]

Use a 10000k for the plants and a 5600k which will highlight the blues and reds in your fish.

[roybo]

Seems like a lot for ediscus.

[Chad Hughes]

You may want to research LED lighting. There are two big benefits that you'll get from these that you won't get from old school lighting.

First, power consumption gets slashed! I recently converted all 26 of my tanks to LED lighting and it cut my power consumption from 780 watts per hour to 240 watts per hour. That's a total electrical saving of 243,000 watts per month. My electric bill will be less than $50.

Second, do you ever go to replace one of those aquarium bulbs and cringe at the price tag? I do. There are certain things that I'm willing to spend money on and light bulbs are NOT one of those things. Lol! You'll get 50,000 hours out of your led lights. That's nearly 14 years of life with a daily 10 hour photoperiod.

My LED retrofit for my 26 tanks cost me about $500. Well worth it in my opinion!

Just something to think about....


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[Cuchulainn]

My LED retrofit for my 26 tanks cost me about $500. Well worth it in my opinion! Quote~

Thats crazy cheap!!! Are these 1w leds, or 3w? How do you have them spaced out across the tanks? Any pics?

[Chad Hughes]

I went with white 5050 high output strip LEDs. They're about $70 for a 5 meter strip. I used four strips total. Since they are already in a strip, they are evenly spaced. I also put in a strip of moon lighting for each tank. Looks pretty cool!

I'm on jury duty at the moment but I'll try and take some pictures this evening.


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[3dees]

without co2 and just a few plants, I think thats too much light and you'll have problems with algae. I run one 54w t8 on my 120 gal. and it's plenty.

[ericatdallas]

Are you growing plants with them or just for viewing? I wouldn't mind switching to LEDs (in fact, they sell T8 bulbs with LEDs in them) for viewing, but planted/reef aquariums are a little more demanding. I think the planted aquarium forums are recommending $300-500+ setups for the tanks and the reefers are suggesting even more. DIY is a little cheaper.

[Chad Hughes]

I'm currently using them for display but will be changing my planted display tank to LEDs soon. I'm still researching the best LEDs for plants, but all of the DIY stuff is relatively inexpensive.


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[3dees]

if you go with led's for plants you had better get quality high watt bulbs, I have a 48" fixture with two rows of led's. 158 bulbs total hanging 8" above my tank and they will not grow my floating plants. I have to run one of the two 54w bulbs for a few hours.

[Darrell Ward]

For a 75 gal. with a few plants, I would go with one of these...http://www.hellolights.com/70w-retrofitkithqi.aspx Hang it 8-12" inches above the tank for less intensity, and better coverage. You'll get good growth, fantastic "shimmer", and with only 70 watts, not so much power as to grow all that extra algae. Oh yeah, one of these 6500k lamps will work great...http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350126683170&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT Much cheaper than most of the other options. Old thread, but this is what I would do. Maybe this can expand other people's thinking about what can be done.

[Chad Hughes]

Here's what I did last week...

30 amp 12 volt power supply.... this baby will power 100,000 LEDs.

http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n553/SanDiegoDiscus/DSC02069.jpg

It's in a water resistant enclosure...

http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n553/SanDiegoDiscus/DSC02068.jpg

Each tank has it's own light switch. This is one of three light switch control panels...

http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n553/SanDiegoDiscus/DSC02070.jpg

Daylight!

http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n553/SanDiegoDiscus/DSC02072.jpg

http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n553/SanDiegoDiscus/DSC02076.jpg


Moon light...

http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n553/SanDiegoDiscus/DSC02075.jpg

http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n553/SanDiegoDiscus/DSC02073.jpg

For the tank in the house I'm going to experiment with using igh output 5050 white, red, blue and yellow strips to achieve what would be sunlight. More to follow on that I guess! LOL!

Best wishes!

[Cuchulainn]

Nice setup Chad! Thanks for posting uP some pics of the leds-dig the moonlights ;)

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Chad,

Can you share a link possibly where you purchased your LED lights and moonlights?

Your setup looks amazing!

[Second Hand Pat]

Chad,

Can you share a link possibly where you purchased your LED lights and moonlights?

Your setup looks amazing!

Ditto...awesome fishroom too.