Marineland LED for freshwater illumination?

[House 64]

I did some research on the forum but couldn't find much that would be specific to my question. I'm looking for a cost effective way to illuminate my 270g. aquarium (72"x36"x24") and currently using a few small coralife mini lights that were designed for saltwater with a day bulb and a atinic bulb. I like the affect the blue has on making the water "shimmer".

My question is has anyone purchased or seen the Marineland Double Bright LED system? I doubt it but would one 48" fixture be bright enough to illuminate my tank? Might have to do two sets. It'll be for fish viewing only and not for plants.

Thanks.

 

[Dan F]

I have an 18" (6 x 1W daylight + 3 x blue bulbs) Marineland fixture on my 210 (72x24x30) tank.

It does have pretty good color and a nice shimmer effect. I am planning on getting another 36" fixture (the 48" fixture is actually a 36" fixture, the legs just extend to 48"), but I wanted to check out the 18" before I dropped $125 on the 36".

I would say you would be much happier with two fixtures. The light is quite focused, so one fixture wouldn't cover the whole tank very well.

One more thing I like is that you can switch it to just blue light for a moonlight effect. The bad part is it doesn't have separate cords so you can't set it up with separate timers for white/blue bulbs.

 

[yodaLBC]

Dont mean to jump on your thread but I was thinking of trying those LED strips that I've been seeing lately ,, anyone else tried it? It's suppose to be 8 -9 watts per strip and in my book that's a major energy saver...

 

[Natalie]

I have the Marineland 36-48" strip on my 40g breeder and I LOVE it. It is far less bright than the compact fluorescents I used to have, though, and you pretty much need the strip to run the entire length of your tank or else you get very dark spots on the left and right. I'd suggest getting two 36" strips and I think that would look really good.

 

[Full Metal Gundam]

my boy had a 36" on his 120g it was dark as hell but the funny thing was it lit the 55g underneath it pretty well(120g was barebottom).I would just go with some cheap HO T5 fixtures.

 

[House 64]

Thanks for the input folks. Natalie, I was thinking two 36" fixtures for each tank. Putting them width wise so it'll span every 24". I had considered the HO T5, Pounder... but trying to save money on the electricity bill since I'd like to run the lights longer than normal (and keep down the cost of bulbs, etc,.)

 

[Natalie]

House, I run the LEDs for about 12 hours a day on both my tanks, and just a heads up, these lights stimulate just as much algae growth as other lighting types.

P.S. Do you live in HI? I was trying to put 2 and 2 together with your location description and your Iz pic. I love Hawaii-- my sister lived there for 15 years and three people in my family play uke.

 

[Dan F]

Thanks for the input folks. Natalie, I was thinking two 36" fixtures for each tank. Putting them width wise so it'll span every 24". I had considered the HO T5, Pounder... but trying to save money on the electricity bill since I'd like to run the lights longer than normal (and keep down the cost of bulbs, etc,.)

I don't think you would get very good coverage that way. The light doesn't spread much at all, so you would have two bright strips with dark everywhere els, I would think. Honestly to really light a tank that big I would think you would want 4 fixtures. I use CF as well, the LEDs are just for shimmer and a little extra brightness.

 

[Full Metal Gundam]

my boy has 2 T5 bulbs over his 120g now and it's way brighter than the Marineland led's.I would highly advise you hawaiian to see the fixture over a tank first before you buy. and yes Natalie playing the ukelele is awesome