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New light, any suggestions?

3K views 33 replies 5 participants last post by  ao 
#1 ·
#2 ·
First light:
Oooh. I like the linkable feature. As it is, you'd have 48w of light for a 29gal, so that's about upper low to medium light. If you ever linked it and got a second, you'd have medium to bright light and be able to grow some really amazing plants. But your algae might go nuts.

Second light:
Same wattage as the first but cheaper. But no expandability options. Hmm. But cheaper is nice!

Third light:
That's some nice wattage. 62w. But you'd need to replace the actinic blue bulb with a daylight or pink bulb. Actinic is for corals. That price is unreal. Does Big Al's ship to the US? :shock:


Fourth light:
Wow. Even better wattage. Does it come with mounting legs though? If not, it might run very hot sitting on top of a glass canopy, which in turn will raise the temp of the tank. All of those high wattage T5-HO will run warm, though.

My advice is go for the last one if it has mounting legs. That will give you almost 3w per gallon which is pretty bright. You might even be able to grow hairgrass as a carpet with light like that. But you'll want to make sure the tank is pretty heavily planted so it sucks up the light or the algae could go crazy.

Dang, those are some good deals.
 
#3 ·
You would have medium lighting, so you should look into dosing excel or have some algae eaters, make sure your dosing is good as well, so you want to be dosing potassium and nitrogen and micros, throw in some iron for more color for plants.

The first two are nice, put I would actually recommend a different brand. http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=71_136&products_id=1413 and then the mounting legs http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1339

They have a 5 year warranty, and when you order you can request them to give you 6500k bulbs, saving you money. Also they look really nice, have decent reflectors as well. Many recommend them, wish I got a Catalina rather than the one that I did.

Only a tad more expensive, but a great product. Remember you will save at least $30 since you can request 6500k bulbs, so they could be cheaper.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I'm not worried about algae in the tank itself, five apple snails, a BN pleco, and if I can ever find them amanos! I can also toss in a dozen RCS from the shrimp tank.

About the ones you recommended. I have no idea if they will ship to Canada. Took a quick peek. It just says ask us first. Between the cost and the shipping, it could be just too much for me to ask for.

I have to check and see if they can swap the bulbs. I'm not confident with them shipping bulbs. Granted they do have FAST shipping usually.

And Sakura, the price on that third one IS in US$ and has black friday shipping offers >.>

Oooo... double checked, even if I can't get the to swap out the bulbs, I can get THIS for only 8.99 each. http://www.bigalspets.com/fish/lighting/6-700k-t5-ho-fluorescent-lamp-31-w-30.html

Oh wait, that's american, 25$ each >.> Stupid border
 
#7 ·
Ok, I checked on the price of the fixture and brackets and shipping, and it's about 130$ For the Catalina one. I have some thinking to do. I trust Big Als shipping, they have been prompt and exactly as ordered. Never any damage.

This other one... ehhh.
 
#9 ·
That Hagen GLO is really nice and looks nice. I have seen other people use them. Remember, a single T5 is about 3x as powerful as a single T8. If you do go the route of a double T5 fixture, dose the tank and have the light on for 10 hours a day max. I have my T5HO fixture that is on my 15 gallon on for 8 hours a day (12-8 on a timer) the fixture is also raised since I started to run into horrible algae problems, the I found the sweet spot. Only problem I see is that one is 36"
 
#24 ·
well if the lighting doesnt reach the bottom, the bottom stems will die off.
apple snails wont even touch algae unless theyre famished..
ive dobe a black water tank for a limited period of time. plants were limited to anubias, mosses and ferns.... as well as a lucky bamboo. baby tears and microswords almost died XD
 
#27 ·
Any low-growing plant that is meant for carpeting (hairgrass, babys tears, microsword) will almost certainly die unless the light is on the intense side. As aokashi said, if the light isn't bright enough, it won't reach plants on the bottom of the tank. Typically carpet plants need the most light.

Some new plants will also struggle. It can help to trim them back and let them grow back up.
 
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