Starting to work on my 55g, need some advice

[pyroman9]

Hey all. Ok so i have read almost every thread on the first few pages here... So a lot of questions have been answered.

I am still in the air though on lighting...

55g, 48in long x 18 tall x 12 wide.

Its the light brown oak or whatever color the wood is.

Very old picture but shows the color of the wood. i think its like 5 years old and fake plants..

Anyhow..

So i am looking to have medium to high lighting. I am also very interested in moonlight at night.

What kind of lights with hoods would you recommend?

I do not want to bother with co2 so i prefer to keep this simple. I can add liquid ferts since that sounds pretty helpful.

links to sites to buy would be helpful, Thanks for everything in advance.

 

[Gene0514]

Coralife Aqualights Deluxe's are good

 

[anthony martinez]

jbj reef lights work great for planted tanks.i have a planted piranha tank with anubias melon swords amazon swords light bulb lillys and plenty more the jbj lights work great. good luck

 

[pyroman9]

now right now i have two hoods on the tank... should i still get two light hoods or one long one??? opinions? i have plastic hoods with tops in the front.. should i switch to plexiglass tops??

 

[oOMO3NOo]

if you want to go medium or high light CO2 is basically a must have... you can use excel for a carbon source but you would have to use a ton of it and a co2 system would pay for itself in a hurry. THESE lights look good. i dont think they have moon lights but they are kinda cheap and look good. i have not heard many reviews on these lights but there stats online look good.

 

[pyroman9]

I thought that they stated that HO is not good without CO2..

What if i do low to medium lights?

what are your suggestions?? two hoods? one?

 

[Bderick67]

You can always do a retrofit to keep your original hoods. The link is an example of a power compact kit which would give you 130 watts. You can probably also get T5 retro kits to.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...ting-Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies~vendor~.html

 

[pyroman9]

they would be 18 inch lights though so i would have to look around. The hoods area 18. The tank being 48 you can see in the pics the lights do not go exactly the whole legnth...

 

[bl00]

Not to derail the thread, but I'm also curious how a 48" t5ho would do on a 55-75 gallon tank that's not using pressurized co2 (I'm using flourish excel now, but moving to diy co2 soon)?

 

[pyroman9]

anyone have answers on this stuff? i am trying to get my tank up and going asap..

still searching for a good light to get...