Check out these lights.. Are these over-kill???

[Cmc53]

I dont have a salt water tank and I saw that most high end lighting had the night time blue lighting.

I will be doing 6ft 220 gallon tank of colorfull freshwater (FH, SA) and want the tank to be bright. And I also want the lighting to really bring out the fish color.

I believe none of these have that reef blue lighting.. So what do you think?

http://www.aquacave.com/tek-light-t...-8-x-80w-lamps-brby-sunlight-supply-2750.html

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/242492/product.web

http://www.marineandreef.com/Aqualight_Elite_Series_2x175_Watt_72_inch_Coralife_p/res56020.htm

If these suck any other reccomendations for what I am looking for in a 72 in size?

 

[Lusus_Naturae]

I admit - I didn't look at the links.

If I was setting up this tank from the info you gave on the other thread, I would build a canopy and put in two 4 foot strips with T5 bulbs. My preferred color temp is 6500k, and lumen for your tank would probably be 3100 or so with that bulb. Some like to mix low and high color temp bulbs, like a 3300 and 10k, the lower is more yellow and warm and the higher more blue and cool.

A lot of fish don't like bright lights either and it can make color look washed out too, it's all about balance.

Also, you mentioned this was for FH and SA - flowerhorn and south americans - correct? Are you dividing the tank into parts or anything? If so you may want to set up shorter sections on each side to make it easier to maintain and service.

 

[Cmc53]

Ok thanks! One of the links was a T5 set up. I was in between that or LED. I heard a lot of good things bout LED but mostly on Reef tanks.. I will go with a higher K bulb though because I hate the yellow look. And the FH and SA will probably not be in the tank at the same time. Just giving on overall I dea of what I will be having in the tank in the future.

 

[FormulatedFire]

I swear by the tek fixtures. I used a 6 bulb version on my reef tank and now in using it on my RTM tank. If your trying to get away from the yellow look but don't want to go too blue I'd suggest 10k bulbs. I'm running ATI Aquablue specials above mine and it's a great color. Don't be thrown off by the name it's not that blue.


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[Cmc53]

Thank! Yeah I think I will go with a T5 light fixture. Being that my tank is 6 feet can i get away with a 4ft fixture? I think thats the biggest size tek makes.

 

[Lusus_Naturae]

You can use a 4 foot on it, I don't know if you will be pleased with the amount of lighting from what you have said, but I run a 4 foot light on my 6 foot 125, it is darker on the ends than the middle but that has two advantages to the tank. First the fish like the dimmer areas at different times, they use the whole tank and will go to the sides and sleep during the day at times. Second the end glass doesn't get any algae on it. I run a single T12 on that tank, 6500k, lumen output 2400. To me, it's still a bit too bright for about a foot by a foot in the middle of the tank, it gets a bit washed out, and I wish I could gain a little bit more light on the ends, but not much. The 6500k isn't too yellow to me, but my eyes are also blue sensitive to the point I get headaches so I may not be able to tell the light is more yellow. I know that a 10k bulb is way too blue for me though and a 4000k is too yellow to me. Overall I really like the setup and the fish like it so I'm not changing it. Here's a pic of the 125.

Thinking it over, I guess if I could find the bulb I liked (which was only in a 4 foot) in a 24 inch length, I would have set the tank up with two 24 inch lights spread apart 6 inches in the middle - that would have given me the perfect spread to the ends and helped the middle where it's currently a bit too bright. This tank has a DIY canopy on it for the lights.

 

[isde02]

You can use a 4 foot on it, I don't know if you will be pleased with the amount of lighting from what you have said, but I run a 4 foot light on my 6 foot 125, it is darker on the ends than the middle but that has two advantages to the tank. First the fish like the dimmer areas at different times, they use the whole tank and will go to the sides and sleep during the day at times. Second the end glass doesn't get any algae on it. I run a single T12 on that tank, 6500k, lumen output 2400. To me, it's still a bit too bright for about a foot by a foot in the middle of the tank, it gets a bit washed out, and I wish I could gain a little bit more light on the ends, but not much. The 6500k isn't too yellow to me, but my eyes are also blue sensitive to the point I get headaches so I may not be able to tell the light is more yellow. I know that a 10k bulb is way too blue for me though and a 4000k is too yellow to me. Overall I really like the setup and the fish like it so I'm not changing it. Here's a pic of the 125.

Thinking it over, I guess if I could find the bulb I liked (which was only in a 4 foot) in a 24 inch length, I would have set the tank up with two 24 inch lights spread apart 6 inches in the middle - that would have given me the perfect spread to the ends and helped the middle where it's currently a bit too bright. This tank has a DIY canopy on it for the lights.

Nice tank, I have a 2ft light in the middle of my 6ft tank and my fish love it. I wish i wouldve gone alittle bigger but its staying now.

 

[Lusus_Naturae]

Thanks, as always, a work in progress, the day I think I have it how I want it I find something else to do.

 

[Cmc53]

You can use a 4 foot on it, I don't know if you will be pleased with the amount of lighting from what you have said, but I run a 4 foot light on my 6 foot 125, it is darker on the ends than the middle but that has two advantages to the tank. First the fish like the dimmer areas at different times, they use the whole tank and will go to the sides and sleep during the day at times. Second the end glass doesn't get any algae on it. I run a single T12 on that tank, 6500k, lumen output 2400. To me, it's still a bit too bright for about a foot by a foot in the middle of the tank, it gets a bit washed out, and I wish I could gain a little bit more light on the ends, but not much. The 6500k isn't too yellow to me, but my eyes are also blue sensitive to the point I get headaches so I may not be able to tell the light is more yellow. I know that a 10k bulb is way too blue for me though and a 4000k is too yellow to me. Overall I really like the setup and the fish like it so I'm not changing it. Here's a pic of the 125.

Thinking it over, I guess if I could find the bulb I liked (which was only in a 4 foot) in a 24 inch length, I would have set the tank up with two 24 inch lights spread apart 6 inches in the middle - that would have given me the perfect spread to the ends and helped the middle where it's currently a bit too bright. This tank has a DIY canopy on it for the lights.

Thanks! Great info about fish likeing the dim spots and algae build up!

 

[Lusus_Naturae]

I've been running T8 lights on my 75 gallon tanks and I still have to modify things some more due to algae and brightness. Everything is good in the tank, I just end up with some brown algae dusting after a week. If I could find a 700 lumen bulb I'd be happy and so would my fish, but I'm going to have to work with a 2700 lumen bulb (if I go down to a T12 it drops to 2400, but still too bright). I tried a diffuser panel and it helped a little, next step is frosted glass panels. I might just rig a DIY LED set up though in the end using some xmas lights.