Did a little project over the weekend.
I have been researching lights for weeks now, trying to decide what type to go with. My tank is a 70 gallon, no live plants. I finally decided to go with 2 coralife fixtures. These are the ones with two 48" T5 28w (not HO) bulbs. I didn't go T5HO or Power Compact, as I didn't want it quite that intense. I also liked the very slim size of the fixtures (1" thick), which leaves plenty of clearance under the canopy. Very easy to reach in the tank if I need to, without shifting any lights around.
The lights are mounted to the underside of the oak canopy. I wanted to balance the light front and back, so I installed one of the lights toward the back, and the other under the flip up part of the canopy. It occured to me that the light might blind me when I opened the canopy, so I ran a switch in the back of the canopy, so I could easily shut down the front lights before opening the lid.
While I was at it, I also installed a pair of cold cathode moon lights. I found the basic directions on line, and they were easy install. I bought a variable DC power supply from Walmart, which allows you to control the intensity, and have all of $20.00 into them.
I also bought a variety of Coralife bulbs, and have tried about every combination of 6,700K, 10,000K, Actinic, and Coralife Colormax bulbs that you can imagine.
Here's what I found:
6,700K - Way too yellow for me. Gave the tank a greenish/yellow glow. Didn't like it in any combination.
Actinic - I didn't like the blue tint. Made the color of the fish look strange to me. Not natural. Gave the tank an odd glow I didn't care for.
10,000k - Bright white light. Very nice. No detectable blue to me. Would use on it's own.
Colormax - Didn't like it that much by itself. I combined it with the 10,000K, and found what I was looking for. The tank looks crisp with very nice coloring on all the fish.
I've got them on three dimmers. Early morning moonlight, mid morning morning 1 set of lights, late afternoon/early evening two sets of lights, mid evening 1 set, and late night moonlight for an hour.
I am very pleased with the results, and love having it all automated. I must say, the moonlights really look nice. They add a whole new dimension of fish viewing. All in all the whole project was a very worthwhile investment.
I have been researching lights for weeks now, trying to decide what type to go with. My tank is a 70 gallon, no live plants. I finally decided to go with 2 coralife fixtures. These are the ones with two 48" T5 28w (not HO) bulbs. I didn't go T5HO or Power Compact, as I didn't want it quite that intense. I also liked the very slim size of the fixtures (1" thick), which leaves plenty of clearance under the canopy. Very easy to reach in the tank if I need to, without shifting any lights around.
The lights are mounted to the underside of the oak canopy. I wanted to balance the light front and back, so I installed one of the lights toward the back, and the other under the flip up part of the canopy. It occured to me that the light might blind me when I opened the canopy, so I ran a switch in the back of the canopy, so I could easily shut down the front lights before opening the lid.
While I was at it, I also installed a pair of cold cathode moon lights. I found the basic directions on line, and they were easy install. I bought a variable DC power supply from Walmart, which allows you to control the intensity, and have all of $20.00 into them.
I also bought a variety of Coralife bulbs, and have tried about every combination of 6,700K, 10,000K, Actinic, and Coralife Colormax bulbs that you can imagine.
Here's what I found:
6,700K - Way too yellow for me. Gave the tank a greenish/yellow glow. Didn't like it in any combination.
Actinic - I didn't like the blue tint. Made the color of the fish look strange to me. Not natural. Gave the tank an odd glow I didn't care for.
10,000k - Bright white light. Very nice. No detectable blue to me. Would use on it's own.
Colormax - Didn't like it that much by itself. I combined it with the 10,000K, and found what I was looking for. The tank looks crisp with very nice coloring on all the fish.
I've got them on three dimmers. Early morning moonlight, mid morning morning 1 set of lights, late afternoon/early evening two sets of lights, mid evening 1 set, and late night moonlight for an hour.
I am very pleased with the results, and love having it all automated. I must say, the moonlights really look nice. They add a whole new dimension of fish viewing. All in all the whole project was a very worthwhile investment.
