Lighting Question...

[lnelms2]

I'm setting up a 450 gallon, and I'm not sure what lighting I should be looking for. It'll have a couple of plants attached to some driftwood, but nothing major. I've been on Amazon looking lights and this is what it's come down too:

2 of these:
http://www.amazon.com/inch-Current-...2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1238373740&sr=1-2

or this guy:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t..._shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=A3MD0713A3NPNS&v=glance

What do you guys think?

 

[lnelms2]

any help?

 

[brianp]

When I set up my 350 in the garage, I went to Lowes and purchased a four foot ceiling track and two 50 watt halogen mini lamps. The thing I like about this set up is first, the lights will not be heating my tank during the Summer and second, when the light penetrates the surface agitation caused by my twin FX5 output, I get a really natural-looking movement of lights and shadows within the tank.

 

[BigJ]

ttt

 

[JakeH]

Would the track be hung from the ceiling or attached to a hood of some kind? I think you're saying from ceiling, but wouldn't that glare really bad?...unless it was maybe directly above...?

 

[Pharaoh]

If you are just having a couple of low light plants, the I would definitely stay away from the T5 HO light. No need ofr High Output lighting if you aren't going to grow a lot of plants. Go with the shop light idea or just buy standard T5 lights. Save yourself some cash.