Help me choose which lighting is best!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
J

jonny5

Candiru
MFK Member
May 14, 2010
180
5
48
california
So, I have a brackish tank in which all the plants minus vallisneria Americana will be within 12" inches of the water surface inside my DIY background. The fish looking good is most important to me because although I would love to get the plants going, sometimes a brackish tank is hard to keep them alive in. I am however, going to try very hard to make this a planted brackish tank. This will be inside a canopy with no fans just an open back, and this is a paludarium ish tank with about 6 inches of clearance from the top of the glass to the water level.

I have narrowed my choices to these

1) http://www.amazon.com/Output-Lightin...ywords=dual+t5
The glo t5HO lighting with a separate moonlight.

2) http://www.amazon.com/AL-H48DB-Finne...s=finnex+ray+2
the finnex ray 2 high output LED (the 7k/10k version) with a separate moonlight

or

3)http://www.plantlightinghydroponics....re-p-3416.html
a hydroponic 4 set of 2t5ho with 2 led light tubes, this would give me most light output and allow me to mix and match.

So far the finnex ray 2 looks like a winner but im afraid it will light the tank in a spotty manner like my marineland led does on my smaller tank. The reduced cost via electricity bill and bulb replacement is nice but I like how CFL just light an entire tank up.
 
^ None of the links i clicked on worked? so not sure if the items removed from Amazon, or you possibly left out part of the URL?
 
I've personally used the 24" version of the GLO light system and found it to be a very good unit, the only thing i didn't like is that you had to buy the bulbs separately from the unit itself, but the light intensity etc all seemed to work well for me...

As for the LED fixture, i;m not too sure how useful that will be for you to grow plants with, since from my understanding is, the blue lights are mainly used for for saltwater tanks, and not freshwater, although i guess depending on the demands of your plants, it may work for you?

Either way, as i've recently learnt, besides focusing on the power of the light, you also have to look at the spread of the light over your tank, so if you have a very long and wide tank, you may need a little more lighting to make sure the light spreads evenly in your tank, which is why i went with a 4 bulb T5HO setup for my new planted tank setup...
 
ya a 4 bulb t5ho is nice but the heat might be too much. My plants are only going to be on the back wall and the tank is 5feet long so im sure a 4 foot light will cover it. The only question when it comes to spread is not if the plants will get enough light, but will there be enough light to make the whole tank look good and lite. I wish I could try all 3 prior to purchasing them lol

forgot to mention, the finnex ray 2 comes in a set with half 7k led and half 10k led, so its more suited for plant growth. However, plants still get some photosynthetic use of blue light.
 
Are you a member of Amazon Prime? It's really worth the membership price if you're not. They have free 2-day shipping and pretty lenient and easy return policies and practices. You honestly could try out all three for at the very least a month and make your decision then.


My mother's a teacher and gets a buncha crap on amazon prime all the time relevant to seasonal lesson plans and doesn't usually get around to returning what she doesn't use until months later sometimes.


I'm the artist and my boyfriend is the technician, figuratively and literally. So, as far as specs for lighting, I wish I could offer you more advice. My boyfriend loves our LEDs, but I'm not as wild about them since I don't feel like our plants grow as quickly and as full as they did with an old coralife lite.


Keep in mind, I'm a newbie to this forum.. Just trying to give help anyway I can!
 
You also have to choose plants which are salt tolerant. If your tank has very low salt levels (1.000-1.003 parts per million), you can select anubias barteri, hornwort, Indian fern, onion plant, cryptocoryne wendtii or hygrophila polysperma. If your tank has medium salt levels (1.003-1.005 parts per million), you can choose bacopa monnieri, crinum calamistratum, cryptocoryne ciliata, lilaeopsis brasiliensis, Java fern or Java moss. Samolus valerandi is a good choice if you have high salt levels (1.005-1.012 parts per million). Vallisneria and hair grass also do well in brackish water tanks.
 
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