Please help me pick a light

First7beta said:

New 26 gallon tank.
Lots of live plants.
Good hiding

Wants:
LED
Night light feature.
Would be awesome if it had built in timers to switch lights on and off and between types of light.

Please recommend a great light system.

Thanks!

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I have two of these GroBeam 500s on my big tank. They are 6500K white which is what you want for plants.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/LEDLights.html

I also have the controller that simulates lightning!
It's also a timer. Oh, and it can also simulate sunrise/sunset.

I don't know what your price point is. It is hard to find good LED lights for freshwater. For my small Edge tank I ended up going with an Ecoxotic Stunner Strip that is 8500K white/453nm blue. I don't like the blue lights. They are for reef tanks and just grow algae in freshwater. It's making food for my snail, and my plants, except for my Anubias, aren't doing so hot. I put the GroBeam on that tank one day and my plants went nuts. It heats up that little tank too much though so I couldn't use it forever.

I don't like the blue lights. They are for reef tanks and just grow algae in freshwater

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Thank you for that information.

I use Dymax LED lights for my small tank. No timers, sadly - but I'd love to know of a brand which did smaller clamp-attachment LED lamps with a timer. So far I haven't found any.

Aus said:

Thank you for that information.

I use Dymax LED lights for my small tank. No timers, sadly - but I'd love to know of a brand which did smaller clamp-attachment LED lamps with a timer. So far I haven't found any.

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You could always buy one of these type timers:

http://pet-supplies.drsfostersmith....ion=fish&ts=results&ed=fish&modaf=r:cat1:fish

You just plug the light into it.

Also, about 3/4 down this page is a 12 watt clamp on Mini LED 400 that is for freshwater. It's the only one I've seen that's right for plants:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/LEDLights.html

TrueLumen LED strips are really nice. I'm fairly sure they have them on Amazon.com..

Just makes sure you're getting the right K rating for plants.

pasoindy said:

I also have the controller that simulates lightning!
It's also a timer. Oh, and it can also simulate sunrise/sunset.

Click to expand...

gimme gimme
it would be AWESOME to have a sunrise/sunset in my fish tank!!!

pasoindy said:

You could always buy one of these type timers:

http://pet-supplies.drsfostersmith....ion=fish&ts=results&ed=fish&modaf=r:cat1:fish

You just plug the light into it.

Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks so much!

Thanks for the comments.
I am thinking about the grobeam but it is pretty pricy. Wish there was something similar for less.

The hard part of this believe it or not is the 26 gal tank. 2 lights I have tried so far are 2 big for it. Don't leave enough room against the filter system in the back.

Still looking....