Is this light good for my tank?

[West1]

I have a 300gl and Im going to keep my Goliath in it (for now).
I want to keep plants in the tank, somewhere around begin-medium light plants.
So my question is... without any Co2's or anything fancy in the tank, is this light good for my acrylic set up?

Also... can I put the 4' light about 2" from the acrylic and not have to worry about the light being to bright?

Thanks, I dont know to much about light

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160719

 

[Frostyone]

You would only be able to keep low light plants with that 48" light. It's only 130w, and PC lights don't reach as deep in the tank as the T5-HO's. I'd keep looking if it's plants you want. Look for a nice 6-8 bulb T5-HO strip.

6x54w T5-HO = 324w so about 1wpg
8x54w T5-HO = 432w 1.44 wpg

For a tank that big you might as well pick up a MH lighting system.

And the PC's put out A LOT of heat, I had one crack my glass lid because of it, if you're going to have it 2" above the acrylic make damn sure there's some air flow between the light and the top of your tank.

 

[West1]

You would only be able to keep low light plants with that 48" light. It's only 130w, and PC lights don't reach as deep in the tank as the T5-HO's. I'd keep looking if it's plants you want. Look for a nice 6-8 bulb T5-HO strip.

6x54w T5-HO = 324w so about 1wpg
8x54w T5-HO = 432w 1.44 wpg

For a tank that big you might as well pick up a MH lighting system.

And the PC's put out A LOT of heat, I had one crack my glass lid because of it, if you're going to have it 2" above the acrylic make damn sure there's some air flow between the light and the top of your tank.

With T5s, would they get to hot on a acrylic tank inside a canopy?

Looking for something that wont get to hot and bend the acrylic

 

[Frostyone]

With T5s, would they get to hot on a acrylic tank inside a canopy?

Looking for something that wont get to hot and bend the acrylic

T5's don't get nearly as hot as PC's. If it's for a canopy I'd install 2x120mm PC (computer) cooling fans. One on either side of the canopy, one pushing air into and the other pulling air out of. Don't go smaller on the fans because then you'll have a noise issue.

 

[West1]

T5's don't get nearly as hot as PC's. If it's for a canopy I'd install 2x120mm PC (computer) cooling fans. One on either side of the canopy, one pushing air into and the other pulling air out of. Don't go smaller on the fans because then you'll have a noise issue.

Do you think the PC fans would pull just as much power as the fans on the lights?

I already have a few things running on the tank and plan to add more. Dont want to over load the power

 

[WyldFya]

For your tank, you really should go with a MH bulb.

 

[West1]

For your tank, you really should go with a MH bulb.

What is a MH bulb????

 

[Frostyone]

Metal Halide