Getting new lights

P

punch

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Mar 25, 2002
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Petaluma, CA
I'm thinking of getting new lights for my tank. A 65 gal. show
36x18x 24" deep. Right now I have 2, 96 watts giving me
2.95 watts per a gal. I want to grow some higher light plants, reds and such.
I can get 3x96 watts giving me 4.43 watts per a gal.
or I can get
2 96's and a 55 giving me 3.8 watts a gal. for a little
less money.
My question is.... Which set up? Would the 3.8 let me grow
glosso? (remember 24" deep) Or should I pay a little more and get all 3 96's?
And yes, I have pressurized co2.
Thanks!!!
 
Any Idea's anyone? Please, What would YOU do?
 
punch, it all depends on what you want to grow and how technical you want to get. 4.43 watts gives you the ability to grow just about anything.....glosso, red plants etc. But with that much light comes a lot of needs. IMO, pressurized CO2 is a must.
You better load that puppy up with plants and once established know how to fertilize them and balance the tank.
You can still grow just about anything with 3.8 watts but your parameters won't be as critical. IMO, you'll still need pressurized CO2 however.
And you can always add more light.
Len
 
Well, I do have pressurized co2, so theres no problems with that.
as getting more lights after, There would be no room on tank
and I would have to start all over with the hilides!
Even more money. No this is the last of the lights, I found a website on figuring how much light you need and since my tank is
a little deeper I need a little more. But then again where I'm getting the lights, they are real reflective and supposedly get more light into the tank. HMMM. OK. I'll go for 2 96's and 1 55. Latter, if I do need more light I can just switch the 1 55 for a 96 and that wont cost to much. As I said I allready have pressurized co2 and I also have pmdd, So I should be good.
Thank you!
 
I have a 50 gal- 36x18x19. I run pressurzed co2 and have 4x36 pcs from AH Supply on it. 144w lets me grow anything, including rotala macrandra, ludwidia glandulosa, oriental sword and blyxa japonica among others.

I dont think you will need much more light than the 2x96 you already have. If you want to beef it up some, consider adding a 30 watt, 36 in. Triton flourescent bulb in a standard flo fixture.

The other thing I would suggest is that you get different K bulbs for the pcs. A lower K (5000 range) on the front of the tank and one in the 6500k range on the rear.
 
I do have 2 96's on my tank. But my tank is tall so I don't get the light I need at the bottom. I can grow some reds but they don't do well. I've noticed they may get a little red at the very top leaves but thats it. Also, I'm just dying to get some glosso.
 
If you want to go to that light level, I'd go the extra few bucks and get the third 96w. I'm at 2.4 wpg, so I can't really speak to the difference between 4.4 and 3.8 but the 96 is the right length. I like evenness (occupational hazard). While I doubt you'd have dark corners with the other two blazing away, the 55 seems like a half measure.

And if you have a little bit left over, some nice shades might be good to :cool:

A pair for you, some little ones for the fish…
 
I, too, would just go for the 3rd 96w lamp. I also agree with going for a different spectrum bulb. I think worrying about .6wpg is trivial at that depth and light intensity. I don't have this high of light in my tank, so this is just my opinion! I have 3.5w of light (5000K and 6500K) in my 20 gallon tank, and I'm having some difficulty growing some red plants too. I'm doing DIY CO2, but it's 2 of the Nutrafin CO2 systems using a powerhead and reactor to diffuse it.
 
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