Confused on what to get to light my 75g

[cjam93]

Hey guys so I made another post but I know the answer now, so I wanted to start a new one. So basically I am doing my first planted tank. It is a 75 gallon, 48.5" x 18.5" x 21. The substrate depth varies but it is around 1.5 to 2 inches deep. I basically have 18" from the top of the substrate to the top of my tank.

So how should I light it? I dont want to break the bank, but I want it to be good enough to grow most things. I do not want any super intensive plants, I likely will stay away from CO2 if at all possible. So I think medium lighting is what I want? I was thinking 1 T5HO bulb, but I had a hard time finding a single bulb fixture. Then I thought about LED, but I wasn't sure how to know if a fixture would be enough light or not. Simply put I am pretty lost with getting my light requirements right.

So what would you suggest? It has to be pretty energy efficient, and I do not want to drop a lot of money on it. Thanks!

 

[benzjamin13]

Really depends on the plants you want to keep. "Most plants" is too vague since there are a lot of different variety of plants out there. I currently have the Finnex Planted Plus, Finnex Ray2, and Current USA Satellite LED Plus. The Satellite is on my 75g that has Anubias and works well for low light plants. The Finnex Ray2 is pretty strong, but it's a thin light and I feel 2 (either a combination of the Ray2 and Planted Plus or 2 Ray2s) would be needed to fill a 75g dimension, but again, depends on the plants you plan on keeping.

 

[cjam93]

Really depends on the plants you want to keep. "Most plants" is too vague since there are a lot of different variety of plants out there. I currently have the Finnex Planted Plus, Finnex Ray2, and Current USA Satellite LED Plus. The Satellite is on my 75g that has Anubias and works well for low light plants. The Finnex Ray2 is pretty strong, but it's a thin light and I feel 2 (either a combination of the Ray2 and Planted Plus or 2 Ray2s) would be needed to fill a 75g dimension, but again, depends on the plants you plan on keeping.

I want to do some easier things like Java fern, moss, maybe swords. Plants of that type

 

[Pomatomus]

T5's are always a good bet. You can swap out bulbs to change the spectrum and the output is good. But if you want to go with high-light plants, then as noted, the Current Satellite might be a bit weak. I just put a couple of Current Orbit Pro's on a planted 220g I set up at a nursing home. My corals like them, so they should work but it hasn't been long enough to tell yet. Current also makes the Orbit light (not the pro model) with intensity between the Satellite and the Pro, and it is priced accordingly (the pro is about $500). The nice thing about LED's is you never have to change bulbs!

But for java moss, java fern, and swords, you could probably get away with 2, 48" standard output (not high output) fixtures from Coralife (2 bulbs each). They are super cheap - barely more than the cost of bulbs. They should run something like $60 each and come with bulbs.

 

[benzjamin13]

Then you can probably get away with a single Finnex Ray2. I know last year Current USA released their Satellite LED PRO which is suppose to be more powerful than the Satellite LED Plus, so there's another option for you.

T5HO would be a cheaper route and can actually be more powerful, but the only experience I had was with a Zoomed dual fixture where the ballast burnt out in a year on me. I'm not saying it's bad, but that's what I had before I switched to LEDs. My 110g came with T5HO fixtures, but I don't really turn them on since I don't have plants in that tank.

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

So what I understand is you want plant lighting that's not intense to the point where you need a co2 system, and you don't want to break the bank....

Well it sounds to me like you want a low tech planted tank, with good enough lighting to keep plants alive and healthy... Medium lighting you might get away without a co2 system, but a High lighting would need a co2 system, whether it's a DIY system or an automated co2 system. I would go with a Beamwork Bright system...

http://www.aquatraders.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=56427P

 

[cjam93]

Sounds good thanks!