Lighting questions

drksthr

Candiru
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2011
101
8
48
Ottawa, Ont
hey everyone,
i'm sure you get these posts all the time and I admit, I have been lazy and haven't skimmed through this section of the forum..
recently had a monster tank with monster fish and then shut it all down and re-opened the tank as a Saltwater tank...
I'm done with the headaches and hassle of saltwater plus the damn salt creep and hearing the wife complain about it.. lol

i've downgraded now to a 125 gallon tank.. it's 60" x 18" and 26" deep... I want to set it up as a simple solo piranha tank or some solo fish but not sure yet and I'd like to add live plants to it.
I dont want anything fancy, just jungle val, amazon swords and java moss..

so my question is, What lighting would you recommend for a tank like this?
would a 48" LED light work just fine for them or should I go T5?

I was also checking out the Current USA - LED Freshwater Plus w/ remote.. I just thought it would be neat for the effects and what note. Might as well make a boring tank interesting.. are they good for plant growth?

any and all suggestions are welcome and will be considered :)
thanks for your time in reading this.
 

Pbaff

Exodon
MFK Member
Feb 1, 2014
44
0
21
SW Missouri
If those are all of the plants that you intend to grow you should have plenty of light. A 48'' Satellite + would probably be enough light for most aquarium plants even, just don't expect fast growth at the substrate level. According to the chart on the Current USA website that light would put out about 20 PAR at 26".

Here is the definition for PAR taken from their site:

The measurement Current USA use is Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) which is measured in micromoles. The more micromoles measured, the brighter it is. We measured the highest PAR readings when the SAT+ was set at yellow on the remote. PAR readings resulted in the following:Depth in Inches PAR Readings in Micromoles
12” 36 micromoles/cm2
18” 28 micromoles/cm2
24” 21 micromoles/cm2


Here are the links to the pages I got this info from:

http://current-usa.com/aquarium-led-lights/satellite-freshwater-led-plus/
http://current-usa.com/is-the-satellite-freshwater-led-plus-bright-enough/
 

A_K_Kicker

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 25, 2013
73
0
0
KC, MO
I would look into the Finnex planted plus led lights. I have one on my 30g and love it. If you go led you may need two fixtures because of how wide the tank is.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

LS2012

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 24, 2013
782
3
33
Northern NJ
I would look into the Finnex planted plus led lights. I have one on my 30g and love it. If you go led you may need two fixtures because of how wide the tank is.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
I agree, you'd need 2 side by side 2 for your width and esp your height of 26 inches. Ive had the sat+ on my pt since summer on my 28 in high. It definitely wasn't enough light for growth. Just added the finnex planted+ and its an incredible difference in such a short period of time. The sat+ does have great effects though....

Sent from my Nexus 10 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

drksthr

Candiru
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2011
101
8
48
Ottawa, Ont
I really justed wanted a nice LED light to brighten up the tank.. .as for plants I didn't want it heavily stocked... I was thinking like a jungle val or something tall as a back wall to hide all the equipment since i never had a chance to paint this damn tank... then was thinking some Amazon swords or something to go in bunches around the driftwood..
are there any lily pad like plants as well that would work?
 

Pbaff

Exodon
MFK Member
Feb 1, 2014
44
0
21
SW Missouri
I have the exact same tank that you have with a 30" Finnex Ray2 on one side of the tank. I don't get much growth out of my plants, but it is enough for viewing the tank and keeping everything alive. The Ray2 is a little brighter than the Satellite+ (26 PAR at 24" vs 20 PAR for the Sat+), but I think both would work for you.

Frogbit are my favorite floating plants. There are some others that work well too though.

This is what my tank looks like with a 30" Ray2 on the left and some old crappy bulb on the right.
IMG_20140202_104726.jpg

IMG_20140202_104726.jpg
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store