compact lighting question

That's a strip light, designed to sit over a glass top with the ends resting on the frame of the aquarium. PC fixtures get hot, but not as hot as other types of light. If you get that particular fixture, some sizes come with fans but the smaller ones don't if I remember correctly. I imagine this is because larger bulbs and dual/quad bulb fixtures put out more heat, whereas single-bulb smaller fixtures don't create enough heat to need a fan.
Mountings may refer to docking mounts - little legs that attach to the ends of the light and sit on the edges of the tank (though I'm not sure they'd work on a hex unless it's a fixture specifically designed for a hex tank). They raise the light up above the water so heat is dissipated, but you lose a lot of light by doing this. I have a Satellite fixture, and decided against using the docking mounts.
Pins are important - PC bulbs come with four little pins at the end, which plug into the fixture. You need to know if your fixture requires straight pin (....) bulbs, or square ( :: ), because they're not interchangeable.
HTH

Both the Satellite and Orbit are made by Current-USA, and as long as you have a glass top you can sit it on top and it does not get hot. I have the dual orbit for my planted 15 gal tall which is a 20 inch light and it has (2) daylight bulbs fans and (2) moonlights for nighttime. Really cool when setup with a timer.

One thing about the Satellite and the Orbit is that they are designed for the marine aquarium so you will need to change out the bulb for the SunPaq 6700/10,000 bulb riding the light system of atenic lighting.

As for the pins it has to do with German design and Japan design. I forget how it goes but I think that the straight pin is the German which is 4 pins straight across and the square is two sets of pins on top of each other to form a square.

The orbit comes with the legs for the light, but IMO I like the light better without them. The light was a great investment and I have seen definate results from the extra light. Good luck

Jim

Hex tanks are notoriously difficult to light properly for plants. Also 1 to 1.5wpg is still considered low light. Good enough for Anubias, Crypts, Java Fern etc., not good enough for swords and most stem plants.

I can't help you much on the Hex lighting. If you want you can try posting your question over at The Planted Tank Forum if you don't have any luck here.

As another thought since so much time has been put into the looks of the tank is to look online for a Do It Yourself light similar to teh one that you already have, but you can modify the ballast (Connections for bulbs) to get the desired watts per gallon that you want. Hope this helps

Jim

The problem with hex tanks is they are very tall with a fairly narrow base. I personally would do vallisneria plants with some small anubias or crypts. Vals are tall grassy plants and can easily get 3-4' long. Vals, anubias, and crypts are not very light demanding. If it were my tank I'd get a 65 watt light and maybe angelfish. This would definitely be considered a low light tank.

2 x 65 watts should give you a solid amount of light. However it may also require CO2 addition, which is more costly and extra maintenance. Fert requirements increase with the light and CO2. I honestly can't say for sure it would need CO2 but I know it would help the plants.

A major problem with PC's is their narrow distribution of light. In your tank this probably won't be too big of an issue. Legs can be used to raise the fixture and spread the light a bit more.

Sunlight is tough because you can't control it. People have had success using it but others talk of algae problems.

I made a canopy out of wood for my tank. It holds regular fluorescent shop lights. I'd say aim for at least 1.5 - 2 wpg of regular fluorescents for your tall tank. This could be tough, I'm not sure what your dimensions are.
Wooden top to hold lights