Help with efficient lighting...

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
jcardona1;4280519; said:
i really like the lights made by Catalina Aquarium. Im currently using their Solar T5HO fixtures. for a cheaper option, you can also check out www.fishneedit.com

I would post this at www.plantedtank.net, those guys really know their lighting over there. not too much activity here for the serious planted tank setups :)
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I would be careful with the catalinas. I was looking into getting those when i was looking for lighting and many people warned me away from them as their was supposedly issues with causing fires.
 
Itsadeepbluesea;4280591;4280591 said:
I would be careful with the catalinas. I was looking into getting those when i was looking for lighting and many people warned me away from them as their was supposedly issues with causing fires.
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not sure where that came from, but i used their fixtures for a year and i bought another, no issues at all. this is pretty much the main fixture people use on plantedtank.net, and ive never heard of such either. i did a search on this and nothing came up as well. i have heard of fire issues wiyh Odyssea fixtures though. i have not read one bad review about Catalina fixtures. their shop is a few minutes from me and the owners are a pleasure to deal with
 
I dig this... http://www.fishneedit.com/3ft4bulbs-with-l34.html

I could put 2 of those on the tank along side the 2 marineland ones if the dimensions work out. The ones at fishneedit.com say they are 9' wide. I don't know yet how wide the marineland ones are. I would need to be able to run them parallel to each other, and still have room in the back for the filter in/out equipment. ARG!

The ones on that link have the option for choosing if you want all white, all blue, or a mixture of the two. I think I would select all white and put them on a timer. That way, I could just rely on the marinelands night setting for the blue light.

If the 2 marineland LED's and 2 of those 3ft T5's would all fit on the top of my tank, that would be 110 watts. I am assuming that is at least mid range lighting?
 
two of those 3ft/4 bulb fixtures is too much. thats the equivalent of running four T5HO bulbs across the whole tank. at 25" off the bottom, that would give you a total of 160 micromols of PAR, which is way too much and youll create a box of algae.

i would run two 3ft/2 bulb fixtures instead. that gives you 80 total micromols of PAR, which puts you just in the high light category which is what youre going for.

here's the chart i'm using to calculate the light intensity, a great reference

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331913
 
i would strongly suggest figuring out a way to suspend the T5HO light fixture over the tank if you go that route. that way you could easily adjust the height of the lights for more or less intensity. if you start to have algae problems, just raise the lights a bit. wanna hit the turbo button? lower them a bit (and crank up the co2 :) )

here's my homemade hanging system. cost me about $15 to make. and that's a Catalina fixture ;)





 
slightly OT, but if you get a 2 bulb t5 HO fixture could u run it using only one bulb if you wanted to?
 
neonmadness;4280789;4280789 said:
slightly OT, but if you get a 2 bulb t5 HO fixture could u run it using only one bulb if you wanted to?
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depends on the fixture and the way the ballasts are wired. some will fire up, some wont. i know for a fact the Hagen Glo fixtures wont turn on if you remove one bulb...
 
jcardona1;4280771; said:
i would run two 3ft/2 bulb fixtures instead. that gives you 80 total micromols of PAR, which puts you just in the high light category which is what youre going for.http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331913
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AWESOME! I suppose I overlooked the 2 bulb ones. :) They are even cheaper than the marineland lights, and not as wide as the 4 bulb T5. Would easily fit with the 2 marinelands that are on the way.

Are you numbers I quoted with the 2 marinelands I will already have, or without?

If it's without, from the low output of the marineland ones with it, I wouldn't think it would be WAY too much light to cause algae outbreak and such. Or i hope. If it IS too much, I could just run the 2 T5's as whites on a timer to cut off after 8 hours, and have the marinelands set on just blue to come on right after the T5's shut off.
 
the figures are strictly for the T5HOs, since nobody has tested the LED systems (as far as i know). i really dont know how intense those will be.

another note on lighting, 6-8 hours of light will be all you need when going with a high light setup. you could probably run more hours if doing low light, but high light youre asking for trouble. and dont use blue lights at all, it does nothing for freshwater plants. youll want to stick with lighting that's between 6000-10,000k. just run your normal lighting schedule and thats it, no lights after your 'regular' lights go out
 
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