How Should I Light My Tank?

[TheRealAndyCook]

Alright so here it goes.

I've tried to figure out what Kelvin to go with, and originally I thought the higher the better...but some people suggest nothing higher then 6,500k ?

I'm not planted but that doesn't mean I'll never have plants.


I'm thinking of 2, dual t5 strips, one running normal lights and one running 10,000k's


Or, would it be smarter to build something with like 4 Sockets, and then high intensity LED bulbs?


Or... one dual t5 light...and then a few sockets for CFLs?


help me make up my mind please.

 

[expkeeper19]

I'm thinking of 2, dual t5 strips, one running normal lights and one running 10,000k's

i would do this one. if i was you, T5 are great for lighting up a tank. and if you decide to grow plants you have a simple opption of making both bulbs 10,000K instead of just one, or go with a 10,000K and a 6,500K depending on what kind of plants you go with, thats just what i would do

 

[TheRealAndyCook]

i said 5 but actually meant 8. Rona sells "shop lights" that I'm thinking about ...and SYLVANIA sells 6500K's

50$ per light but they're 20,000 hours (2.2 years)

 

[expkeeper19]

well even with T8 you can still grow plants if you want. i have a planted tank with 2 T8 strips both 5 feet long, its on my 120G, i have lots of light, plus im able to grow some plants, so even with the T8 you have the option, but if you get into more delicate plants or a fuller tank you will need to upgrade your light system

 

[TheRealAndyCook]

glad I don't seem crazy finding a secondary use for normal lights.

I just really don't wanna spend 200$ on something that I cant reuse somewhere else.

 

[expkeeper19]

i totaly get where your comming from, its alot of money to spend on just lighting. but thats the fun of owning fish lol

 

[TheRealAndyCook]

why do metal halides and LED lights make the water shimmer and not standard lights? is it because of the wave length of light they put out?

 

[Keasarge]

why do metal halides and LED lights make the water shimmer and not standard lights? is it because of the wave length of light they put out?

Metal halides have a higher Kelvin ie a higher blue light which water absorbs better giving it that shimmery look standard lights are more yellow and fluresances have a super low Kelvin so don't give you the same look

 

[gveng]

when it comes to lighting you have many choices and since you don't plan on keeping plants you literally can use anything.

but before you start pricing things out, you really need to decide on what kind of look you want for your aquarium. the K scale is pretty simple, 4.5-5k is white, 6k is blue, and 8k is purple, etc... once you figure that out all if left is the wattage, the deeper the tank, the higher watt you want to go.

i went through 3 lighting set ups before i was finally happy with that i had, my best and cheapest suggestion for you is to look through different pictures of tanks that members have, if you find something you like pm them and ask them what they are using.

good luck.

 

[MonsterMinis]

I use a 6.5k and a 10k T5HO on my planted tank and love the look and the plant growth.. also take into consideration.. the more lighting.. the more algae you're likely to accumulate. I use standard t8's 10k's on my other tanks and like the look and I can still grow a few plants under them.

Tank size is also a factor when looking at lighting.. if you want to stay under 200$ throw halides and led's out the window. both imo are best suited to SW systems. their spectrum coverage is not natural in any way to FW except perhaps deep water lake species. which I'm sure is all debatable but these lights are used in systems that house deep water SW creatures, They replicate waters most our FWs don't even come close to clearing.