Need help and advice in lighting! New t5 Fixture

[kissarmy39]

Hello All,

My friend recently sold off his fish tank and parts with it, he gave me a t5 high output 48 inch strip for my tank. It has the same bulbs that came with it in the box which is the actinic (idk what k measurement) and a standard 10k bulb. I have a 55g freshwater tank with a mix of cichlids, including africans and baby fronts. (I plan on upgrading my tank for the fronts once I can afford the space and set up so I know this is wayyy to small to be a permanent home for these guys).

The light fixture fits but through research and own common sense i feel that these t5 HO actinic and 10k daylight bulbs are too much for my tank and for my fish (especially the fronts). However, this is a nice light fixure and I was wondering if:

A) My assumptions about the light fixture being too much for my tank and fish being true.
B) Can I continue to use this light fixture? If so what bulbs work best for a tank with baby fronts and other cichlids and catfish (pleco and spotted raphel)
C) Can other bulbs fit into this fixture from different brands? Sorry this kind of just fell into my lap and I am very new to this dual lighting thing. Any advice on best color, lighting, and combo of bulbs would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks All.

 

[JakeH]

There's about 100 different lamps you could swap the actinic for... I would probably keep the 10,000k though. Any plants or special lighting requirements for the fish?

 

[cichlid fiend]

Just go to a lower wattage lamp and also switch up the type of the lamp. HO is for high output. Try a natural light or a cool white!!

GL, help u find what u are looking for!!!

 

[Zander_The_RBP]

Hello All,

My friend recently sold off his fish tank and parts with it, he gave me a t5 high output 48 inch strip for my tank. It has the same bulbs that came with it in the box which is the actinic (idk what k measurement) and a standard 10k bulb. I have a 55g freshwater tank with a mix of cichlids, including africans and baby fronts. (I plan on upgrading my tank for the fronts once I can afford the space and set up so I know this is wayyy to small to be a permanent home for these guys).

The light fixture fits but through research and own common sense i feel that these t5 HO actinic and 10k daylight bulbs are too much for my tank and for my fish (especially the fronts). However, this is a nice light fixure and I was wondering if:


A) My assumptions about the light fixture being too much for my tank and fish being true.
B) Can I continue to use this light fixture? If so what bulbs work best for a tank with baby fronts and other cichlids and catfish (pleco and spotted raphel)
C) Can other bulbs fit into this fixture from different brands? Sorry this kind of just fell into my lap and I am very new to this dual lighting thing. Any advice on best color, lighting, and combo of bulbs would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks All.

just throwing this out there actinic dosn't have a colour temp. its pure blue light (usualy 420 or 460 nm) blue is one of the 3 primary colours of light (red, green, blue) combine them in varying quantities gives you colour temp.

yes other bulbs can fit into your fixture as long as they are t5 HO bulbs. No such thing as too much light for your fish (within reason) t5 HO lights are nothing compared to the metal halides most saltwater keepers use and there fish arn't affected by the incredibly bright light. And i'd use a combination of 6700k and 10000k if you think your current set up is too blue from the actinics. But personaly i love the blue look in a tank and would keep the actinics (assuming im not growing any plants)

 

[kissarmy39]

Hey all thanks for your advice and help, figured its a pretty expensive light structure (at least for me and a 55g tank) so I figured id make sure i get the most information on it that I could.

JakeH - There are no special plants or fish lighting requirements.

However, even with the actinic bulb in there, it's not as blue as I would have hoped. I am just wondering what bulb combination gets out all the colors of the fish and scales (especially kirin parrot colors and patterns) that fit in my light fixture without being too dominant in one area of color. Specifically what would the colors look like in with a 6700k and actinic, or a colormax and actinic, or 10k and colormax? etc, etc...

Thanks again all for your help.

 

[JakeH]

For your purposes, I'm just gonna shoot my opinions out there & skip all the technical stuff since you dont have any special needs... The 10,000K is bright white daylight color & I would leave that tube in for now. Depending on the colors you're trying to highlight in the fish, I would start by swapping the actinic for something like a PowerGlo 18,000K (strong blues & reds) or a lamp like a 50/50(something under 10,000K) to bring out more yellows & greens. A Colormax would be a great choice for color enhancement on all fish colors, without optimizing just one.

Good site for seeing the light color & buying lamps.
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.c...8/3733/13821?s=ts&count=24&start=1&page_num=1