Advice for adding plants to established 55 gallon - newbie to plants

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Tbh, I get most of my plants online from other hobbyists on plant specific forums. There are some plants you can only get that way.

Aside from that, post here what lights you are thinking of before buying anything. And don't bother buying plants until you have bought the light you are going to use.

If you do decide to go LED, Finnex is the only one I trust that makes a good enough light. I'd look more at the fugeray than the ray II, simply because the ray II would be a pretty strong light, and would push you into high light territory.

Otherwise, a single or dual bulb t5-ho catalina fixture would be plenty. If you did the dual bulb, I'd maybe just run one bulb for 8 hours and the other for 4 hours.
 
Kind of got delayed in my search over the weekend, caught some kind of stomach bug that put me in bed for a couple days - really sucks to be sick over the weekend. Feeling better though and back to my hunt for a new light fixture. Will post up some that I'm looking at when I find ones that look interesting!
 
Found one LED so far on Amazon I'm thinking about, thoughts on this one - good light and good deal? Or no?

Finnex FugeRay Aquarium LED Light Plus Moonlights
Price: $131.54
Finnex Unibody Ultra Slim High LED +Moonlights
16 Blue LEDs/224 White LEDs
24 total Watts
7000k + Moonlights
Dimensions: 48" Long x 3" Wide x 1" High

http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRa...&qid=1377279100&sr=8-2&keywords=finnex+led+48

Also found a Catalina T5 fixture that is very similar in price on Amazon. Hmm..

Price: $135.00
48 Inch T5 HO Aquarium Light
2 x 54 watt T5 HO Bulbs Included
One 10k and One Blue Actinic
Individual German Polished Aluminum Reflectors on each bulb
5 year manufacturer warranty on ballast


http://www.amazon.com/48-Inch-Solar...8&qid=1377279428&sr=1-24&keywords=t5+catalina
 
jadedreams said:
Found one LED so far on Amazon I'm thinking about, thoughts on this one - good light and good deal? Or no?

Finnex FugeRay Aquarium LED Light Plus Moonlights
Price: $131.54
Finnex Unibody Ultra Slim High LED +Moonlights
16 Blue LEDs/224 White LEDs
24 total Watts
7000k + Moonlights
Dimensions: 48" Long x 3" Wide x 1" High

http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRa...&qid=1377279100&sr=8-2&keywords=finnex+led+48

Also found a Catalina T5 fixture that is very similar in price on Amazon. Hmm..

Price: $135.00
48 Inch T5 HO Aquarium Light
2 x 54 watt T5 HO Bulbs Included
One 10k and One Blue Actinic
Individual German Polished Aluminum Reflectors on each bulb
5 year manufacturer warranty on ballast


http://www.amazon.com/48-Inch-Solar...8&qid=1377279428&sr=1-24&keywords=t5+catalina
Click to expand...

I love both of those companies.

Here's the main thing for you when choosing between these two options.

LED lasts longer but you are stuck using 7000K, which isn't bad but if you wanted a different color
combination you'd be out of luck.

T5-HO needs replacing once a year (also, don't use 10000K bulbs, I learned that the hard way). You can mix and match colors, and also, you can run just one bulb an have the other one on for a short time. (Using both for 8 hours would be just a little much without co2 IMHO). Just make sure that particular fixture has separate cords for each bulb (the company does make them that way when you ask)



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