Lighting

I'm looking for some insight/experience into what lighting system (watts) I should get for my 75 gal. tank? This will be heavily planted with CO2 injection and all that good stuff. The tank is the standard 48" x 18".

Any advice would be appreciated!

--
Craig Brye
University of Phoenix Online

Craig Brye said:

I'm looking for some insight/experience into what lighting system (watts) I should get for my 75 gal. tank? This will be heavily planted with CO2 injection and all that good stuff. The tank is the standard 48" x 18".

Any advice would be appreciated!

I went DIY.

I run 6 32w T-8 4' tubes with Sylvania/Osram electronic ballasts on my
75 gallon AllGlass tank. I use Sylvania 5000k bulbs, sometimes
combining with 6500k bulbs for better color (more blues).

Avoid the Phillips 950 bulbs, they have a better CRI, but poor PARS.
The 850's are OK.

The bulbs cost me $3.45 each at the local commercial lighting
distibutor. I wasn't about to pay $12.00 to $20.00 each for bulbs
every six months or so... Many are just standard commercial lamps
with doctored spectrum charts on the box.

Reflectors are important - either make a W reflector to reduce bulb
restrike, or at minimum, use reflective white paint on a flat
reflector. Avoid aluminum foil - It is a poor reflector! A good
reflector can almost double your available light.

I have anubias, bacopa, hornwort, various cryps, marble queen sword,
dwarf hairgrass, chain swords, rotala magenta, water lettuce and
duckweed, etc. The red colors are maintained and growth is
acceptable. I could not keep pennywart going, however.

Banana plants exploded with growth until they hit the dormant period
and I pulled them.

I ran 4 tubes originally, and *most* plants did OK - but the marble
sword and hairgrass wanted more light.

Also, learn from my mistakes!
Mix some Fluorite, Profile or even Hartz pH5 cat litter in with your
substrate. Gravel just doesn't cut it - although I tried in an
attempt to eliminate the $100 cost (+shipping).

FWIW,


Greg G.

I highly recommend PowerCompacts. They are so efficient I use just 2 - 65W 6700K 24" tubes on our 100G tank.
They last nearly 2 years as well.

Chris.

"Craig Brye" wrote in message ...
I'm looking for some insight/experience into what lighting system (watts) I should get for my 75 gal. tank? This will be heavily planted with CO2 injection and all that good stuff. The tank is the standard 48" x 18".

Any advice would be appreciated!

--
Craig Brye
University of Phoenix Online

4x55W PCs are usually a good choice for such a tank if you want very
fast growth rate. Otherwise 4-6 32W T8 bubls would also work well.
Depends on what plants you are looking to grow really and how often
you want to prune the tank.

Giancarlo Podio
www.gpodio.com

"Craig Brye" wrote in message ...
I'm looking for some insight/experience into what lighting system
(watts) I should get for my 75 gal. tank? This will be heavily planted
with CO2 injection and all that good stuff. The tank is the standard
48" x 18".

Any advice would be appreciated!

Another consideration is how many wpg you want Most of the high light
plants do better with 3+ wpg
Lower light plants you may not have to go with pc lights


http://www.wholesaleaquatics.com/pow..._supply_c.html

Marcus

On 29 Jun 2004 06:59:16 -0700, (Giancarlo Podio)
wrote:

4x55W PCs are usually a good choice for such a tank if you want very
fast growth rate. Otherwise 4-6 32W T8 bubls would also work well.
Depends on what plants you are looking to grow really and how often
you want to prune the tank.

Giancarlo Podio
www.gpodio.com

"Craig Brye" wrote in message ...
I'm looking for some insight/experience into what lighting system
(watts) I should get for my 75 gal. tank? This will be heavily planted
with CO2 injection and all that good stuff. The tank is the standard
48" x 18".

Any advice would be appreciated!

I'm reluctantly getting a Power compact system with around 3.5 watts/gallon.
I say reluctant because I believe this would be good for smaller tanks, but
as you get into bigger tank sizes the watts/gallon equation becomes skewed.

--
Craig Brye
University of Phoenix Online

"Aquatic-Store.com" sales a@t Aquatic-Store.com wrote in message
...
Another consideration is how many wpg you want Most of the high light
plants do better with 3+ wpg
Lower light plants you may not have to go with pc lights


http://www.wholesaleaquatics.com/pow..._supply_c.html

Marcus

On 29 Jun 2004 06:59:16 -0700, (Giancarlo Podio)
wrote:

4x55W PCs are usually a good choice for such a tank if you want very
fast growth rate. Otherwise 4-6 32W T8 bubls would also work well.
Depends on what plants you are looking to grow really and how often
you want to prune the tank.

Giancarlo Podio
www.gpodio.com

"Craig Brye" wrote in message
...
I'm looking for some insight/experience into what lighting system
(watts) I should get for my 75 gal. tank? This will be heavily planted
with CO2 injection and all that good stuff. The tank is the standard
48" x 18".

Any advice would be appreciated!

Craig,

See some tips starting from the Notes page at my aquarium site:
http://www.geocities.com/nguyenhg/.

I also have a 75-gal tank.

Good luck,
Hoa
"Craig Brye" wrote in message
...
I'm looking for some insight/experience into what lighting system (watts) I
should get for my 75 gal. tank? This will be heavily planted with CO2
injection and all that good stuff. The tank is the standard 48" x 18".

Any advice would be appreciated!

--
Craig Brye
University of Phoenix Online