LED or T5??????

[exoticfishguy]

I have the beamworks led fixtures and they are cheap and effective.

 

[sayersweb]

Do you have them hooked to the top of the tank or mounted in a canopy? Do you find it is better to place them toward the front and angle them back... to get more light on the viewing side of the fish?

I was in the same boat as yours but my tank is 96x48x30 and I went with TruLumen LED strips. I only run a 48" and a 36" strip linked together and it lights it up nicely. I gotta say I love the efficiency and super small size.

 

[swedeboy78]

Do you have them hooked to the top of the tank or mounted in a canopy? Do you find it is better to place them toward the front and angle them back... to get more light on the viewing side of the fish?

I have them mounted in the canopy about 8" above the acrylic. I did also mount them 1/3 of the way back from the front and just angled them straight down. TrueLumen are pretty wide angle bulbs so it lights up the whole tank except for a little darker areas towards the top/back of the tank (which I like). Keep in mind my tank is 4' wide.

I actually bought 4 strips and only ended up using 2...

 

[sayersweb]

That sounds good... thank you for the info! They sound like a great solution and are so elegant. The feet that come with the lights, are they safe for an acrylic tank? I worry that they may scratch.

When you are doing maintenance on your tank do you remove the canopy? If so, can you still see well enough? I've never had a canopy before but will hopefully have a new 375 setup with one very soon.

Thanks again for the info.

I have them mounted in the canopy about 8" above the acrylic. I did also mount them 1/3 of the way back from the front and just angled them straight down. TrueLumen are pretty wide angle bulbs so it lights up the whole tank except for a little darker areas towards the top/back of the tank (which I like). Keep in mind my tank is 4' wide.

I actually bought 4 strips and only ended up using 2...

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

I'm setting up a 420 gallon tank (84x36x32) I want to make sure I have adequate lighting but not too sure how I wanna do it?? Any suggestions???

My 265 is 30" tall, I use the Beamsworks LEDs, the tank is nice and bright. I doubt 2" will make that big of a difference. I currently only have 1 on there, but have more on order.

 

[swedeboy78]

That sounds good... thank you for the info! They sound like a great solution and are so elegant. The feet that come with the lights, are they safe for an acrylic tank? I worry that they may scratch.

When you are doing maintenance on your tank do you remove the canopy? If so, can you still see well enough? I've never had a canopy before but will hopefully have a new 375 setup with one very soon.

Thanks again for the info.

If I recall, TrueLumen's do not come with any acrylic safe legs, just a small metal mounting bracket for a canopy. I wouldn't use those to sit right on the acrylic. However, many folks just lay the strip right on top of the tank - no major heat to worry about with LED's.

My canopy is set up so a 1/3 of it flips back (2 sections due to size) which is ample room for me to get into the tank - Let me know if you want a pic.

Depending on what you decide, canopy or no canopy, look into Beamswork as well as I believe they are better looking if you're not using a canopy, they come with built in legs too. But they do not come linkable from the factory.

 

[PDRed302]

I ran only t5 for a while because it was very affordable. Recently switched all of my tanks over to led and now that I have the leds setup, I know I will never setup a tank with anything but led lights.

 

[swedeboy78]

I ran only t5 for a while because it was very affordable. Recently switched all of my tanks over to led and now that I have the leds setup, I know I will never setup a tank with anything but led lights.

Ditto