180 gallon lighting setup ideas.

[Garita]

Hi

I'm new here and my english its not the greatest(I'm from Costa Rica) so sorry for that. :D I have been planing a 180 gal setup for a long time and I cant figure how much light I need. I know there are a lot of options but the thing is I dont want plants needing a lot of light I just want my tank illuminated to display my fishes.

I'm going for the DIY side, so if any of you have expirience on doing a lighting setup this size or has any idea of how much and the type of light that is good enough for what I want, It would be very helpful.

Thanks and I hope you understand what I'm trying to say :sorry:

[Ryan925]

If you are only looking for display lights then you don't need a lot. Discus don't particularly care for really bright light anyhow. I would say you want multiple colors, each dimmable separately. Then you can customize the light to display the colors of the fish you have chosen best.

[Garita]

Thanks Ryan!

I just want a good white light for the entire tank to look good, not really interested on diferent colors or intensities, but I need a reference point because as much as I dont want a dim tank I dont want to go crazy either.

The dimensions on what I'm planing are 2mtsx60cmx60cm I'm sorry I dont know about ft haha

So when I realized that I have 60cmx200cm of room to put light tubes(or anything) on there, I realized that I could do a lot but don't want to do more than I need.

edit:

Lets say that I install 4 or 5 T12 or T8 on there, they are maybe 40w each? Would that be too much?

[Ryan925]

Thanks Ryan!

I just want a good white light for the entire tank to look good, not really interested on diferent colors or intensities, but I need a reference point because as much as I dont want a dim tank I dont want to go crazy either.

The dimensions on what I'm planing are 2mtsx60cmx60cm I'm sorry I dont know about ft haha

So when I realized that I have 60cmx200cm of room to put light tubes(or anything) on there, I realized that I could do a lot but don't want to do more than I need.

edit:

Lets say that I install 4 or 5 T12 or T8 on there, they are maybe 40w each? Would that be too much?

Oh I was thinking you were going to do diy led.

Honestly I wouldn't be able to give you a good recommendation on fluorescent. I know some use t5 but I use all led

[Garita]

It was just an example, I would be happy to hear your recommendations on led's too :) thanks for replying btw

[Ryan925]

It was just an example, I would be happy to hear your recommendations on led's too :) thanks for replying btw

I would have to imagine if you used the search feature here there are some good diy threads for led

I run a finnex 24/7 led on my tank. I used to have plants so the 24/7 mode was great. Since removing my plants it's too much light during the photo period. So I now run a custom color mixture of blue, red, white and green. I got tired of having to manually switch to moonlight in the evenings and back to my custom color in the morning.

I just ordered a blue led strip off of Amazon. It came in like a 16' roll. I just cut it to the length of my light, wired it to the power supply and used the adhesive backing to attach it to the bottom of my light. Worked great.

I think the led strip and power supply cost me less than $20

[rickztahone]

If you are not planning on aging plants, you can go diy led route. There are tons of vids on YouTube. Joey (DIY King) has a few of them

[Garita]

Thank you for the help! Ryan and Rick

Seems like the led strips are going to be the option. I did use the search box but seems like not a lot of 180gallon owners had share their illumination setup and results or at least I couldnt find anything, and that was my goal with this thread, finding someone with the same setup.

But I'm gonna try with one 16' strip and if thats not enough I'll do another one, the thing is that I have to ship this lights from amazon to my country so I wanted to know for sure if I needed two so i dont have to order them separately. I wish this lights were $24 in my region, if you want those same lights here they cost $52.. more than double hahaha crazy.

Thanks!

[Ryan925]

Thank you for the help! Ryan and Rick

Seems like the led strips are going to be the option. I did use the search box but seems like not a lot of 180gallon owners had share their illumination setup and results or at least I couldnt find anything, and that was my goal with this thread, finding someone with the same setup.

But I'm gonna try with one 16' strip and if thats not enough I'll do another one, the thing is that I have to ship this lights from amazon to my country so I wanted to know for sure if I needed two so i dont have to order them separately. I wish this lights were $24 in my region, if you want those same lights here they cost $52.. more than double hahaha crazy.

Thanks!

For that cost I would consider getting one that is dimmable. That way if it's too bright you don't have to replace it. Just dim it

[Neptune]

Look at the Beamswork light fixture. I don't know if they make one long enough, but they are certainly cheap enough you could do two.
They are a good very basic LED fixture that is very affordable.

I've done a ton of DIY LED lighting,..,.one of the problems you always run into is how do you mount the stuff over your tank.
FYI...that 3m sticky back tape lasts just long enough for you to get it over your tank, and then it gives out.

[Ryan925]

Look at the Beamswork light fixture. I don't know if they make one long enough, but they are certainly cheap enough you could do two.
They are a good very basic LED fixture that is very affordable.

I've done a ton of DIY LED lighting,..,.one of the problems you always run into is how do you mount the stuff over your tank.
FYI...that 3m sticky back tape lasts just long enough for you to get it over your tank, and then it gives out.

I've had a strip attached to my light now for weeks and still attached. No issues