Suggestions please

[krislewis3]

I've been trying to research lighting for my 60 gallon tank, which is 48" x24". I am totally confused by the research I've done! The hood takes two 18" fluorescent bulbs..one on each side of the tank! I'm trying to grow anubias, without much luck. Even though it is a slow grower, mine is a no- grower. Can someone suggest the right bulb (keeping in mind that the hood takes two 18" bulbs. I would like a good plant bulb on one side, and a color enhancer bulb on the other side, to bring out the colors in my discus.....

[Second Hand Pat]

The problem I see is the 18 inch bulb only allows you to go up to some max wattage which is not bright enough for the height of your tank, 24 inches right? Is your hood flexible enough to remove the current light fixture and add a fixture allowing a (1 or 2) 39 or 54 watt bulb(s)?

[krislewis3]

Yea, that is just what I was running into in my research. I cant believe that an insuffecient hood would come with a tank!!!!I probably need a new hood!!!! What would you suggest?

[dprais1]

you don't need a hood you need a glass canopy. 2pieces of glass with a plastic hinge connecting them.

[krislewis3]

ok.....can you suggest what type of bulb i would need, as far as wattage etc. for anubias plant and to bring out color in discus? Would LEDs be a reasonable alternative to flurescent? Would I still need a canopy with leds? What do you guys use?

[Elliots]

Have you just put the plants in? Check with a planted tank site. Sometimes when you add a plant it sheds some or all of its leaves in the new tank, rests for a while and then returns to growing. Could that be the problem? What are your tank dimensions? You list 48X24, my tank is 60X24X25 and is 150 gallons. Maybe your tank is bigger than 60 gallons and you need more light than a 60 gallon would need? I think a gallon is 231 cubic inches, that would be of course the inside diameter not the outside as the thickness of glass can add an inch or more to the dimensions.

[krislewis3]

Mine is 60 gallons, 24" tall, and my hood holds two 18" bulbs, and the only 18"bulbs,one on each side. The problem is, I cant find bulbs that size, that are over 15 watts, giving the entire 60 gallons of water just 30 watts of light. Do you think that is sufficient? The amubias have been in the tank for 2 months, and are not growing at all. They arent dying, just not growing!...If I can get some good feedback here, I would like to try LEDs. What do you think?

[DiscusDrew]

Sorry my friend i'm not a plant guy, this is best left to the experts but you should get some good feedback. I know for my discus though I love LED if possible, they seem far more calm without the high speed flicker of florescent bulbs, however LED is expensive unfortunately. But they are becoming more reasonable, and I know you can go plants with LED lighting I just don't know what kinds do well and such. Good luck!

[Wjmulder]

you don't need a hood you need a glass canopy. 2pieces of glass with a plastic hinge connecting them.

+1 sell the standard hood and get glass tops, then you can use any fixture you want. T5, T5HO, LED, etc. I personally use a T5 with 1- 10,000k and 1- 6,700k. Fish look good and plants are thriving. Tank is a standard 55.

[krislewis3]

Thanks....I'll be shopping for the glass top, then, I still need suggestions. If I go led, could someone suggest one that will work well in a 60 gallon, 24" deep x 48" long tank. The only pant is anubias, and 5 discus....I'd like to bring out the color of the fish, and support a low light plant!!! My mind is reeling from my research, so I'm hoping you can simply suggest one that works for you!

[xxbenjamminxx]

Your biggest problem is the height of the tank. Being 24" tall thats a long ways for light to penetrate down to the bottom. I have used the Double Bright LEDs from Marineland with success but only on a tank that was 20 tall and that was growing Jungle Val and Anubias. Also IMO with all the WCs we do there isnt much as far as "food" for the plants left in there unless you are dosing something so that may inhibit its growth as well.

If you dont want to spend the money on an expensive light setup, you could just add another strip light (over Glass tops), and then if you felt you needed more light you could raise up the Anubias as well, like tied up onto a piece of DW or something. I have a little 10g tank with a couple Platys and it hardly ever gets a WC. All the kinds of anubias in there take right off. A 3/4" rhizome of Petite is now about 4" long and has around 50+ leafs after a couple months.

[CrazyAngels]

Kris, anubias are not really that light dependent, in fact too much lighting will cause the leaves to get lots of algea that is nearly impossible to remove from them. I have anubias which grow like crazy in my tanks and I do nothing special with lights. What really kick the plant growth is just plain fish waste and lots of driftwood and my main tanks which get the least amount of water changes per week are the ones with the best plants. What I have noticed is that these tanks are also the most stable when it comes to water quality. If you want to keep only anubias in your tank (I prefer broadleaf), then my suggestion is use the light that makes you happy with how the fish look, add plenty of wood (I prefer Malaysian DW) and enjoy your plants.

here are a couple of pictures so you can see 2 different types of lights being used. first pic uses a 24" T-8 LIFE-GLO 6700K fluorescent on top of 36 gallon bowfront, the second picture uses 2 compact fluorescent bulbs on top of a 72 gallon bowfront. Sure hope this helps.

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m632/crazyangelsNdiscus/5-12-2012%20updates/5-12-12_updateKoi1web.jpg
http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m632/crazyangelsNdiscus/5-12-2012%20updates/cheetahwithfriends.jpg


I've been trying to research lighting for my 60 gallon tank, which is 48" x24". I am totally confused by the research I've done! The hood takes two 18" fluorescent bulbs..one on each side of the tank! I'm trying to grow anubias, without much luck. Even though it is a slow grower, mine is a no- grower. Can someone suggest the right bulb (keeping in mind that the hood takes two 18" bulbs. I would like a good plant bulb on one side, and a color enhancer bulb on the other side, to bring out the colors in my discus.....

[krislewis3]

Pretty....thanks for the pics.

[ktm4us6]

I have a 36" deep tank with leds from superbrightleds.com they are water proof and 2ft long strip light. I have 14 of them and have Anubis and Amazons.plants were doing awesome until I had to raise the tank temp to treat for disease. With running 14 2ft strips my monthly Bill is only five dollars a month for just the lights.

[krislewis3]

Thanks Eric. Can you tell me how they look, as compared to fourescent?

[ktm4us6]

The lights are 9000k and will look allot like crazy angels tank. One thing nice about leds is they have a shimmering affect like metal halide.

[ktm4us6]

I wish I still had pictures when I had four of them on my 55g. I have potted plants with clay dirt from my house and little gravel over the top. I haven't added any fertilizers at all and have had the plants for over a year now with great growth and no yellowing at all.

[krislewis3]

Kris, anubias are not really that light dependent, in fact too much lighting will cause the leaves to get lots of algea that is nearly impossible to remove from them. I have anubias which grow like crazy in my tanks and I do nothing special with lights. What really kick the plant growth is just plain fish waste and lots of driftwood and my main tanks which get the least amount of water changes per week are the ones with the best plants. What I have noticed is that these tanks are also the most stable when it comes to water quality. If you want to keep only anubias in your tank (I prefer broadleaf), then my suggestion is use the light that makes you happy with how the fish look, add plenty of wood (I prefer Malaysian DW) and enjoy your plants.

here are a couple of pictures so you can see 2 different types of lights being used. first pic uses a 24" T-8 LIFE-GLO 6700K fluorescent on top of 36 gallon bowfront, the second picture uses 2 compact fluorescent bulbs on top of a 72 gallon bowfront. Sure hope this helps.

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m632/crazyangelsNdiscus/5-12-2012%20updates/5-12-12_updateKoi1web.jpg
http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m632/crazyangelsNdiscus/5-12-2012%20updates/cheetahwithfriends.jpg


What kind of background is in your discus tank???