How many inches should the new light be?

JosephMCorbett

JosephMCorbett

AC Members
Feb 7, 2005
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Northern California
I am interested in picking up a new light hood for my acrylic 125. The tank is 72 inches long. The hood that came with it is 48 inches long and fits inside the cutouts at the top. For anyone not familiar with acrylic tanks, there are usually two cutouts at the top, and the rest of the top is sealed in acrylic. So, even though the tank is 72 inches long, the cutouts are 48 inches long. I have my eye on this:

Current USA Satellite Dual 48" 4 x 65 Watt Power Compact Light Strip W/2 Lunar Lights.

I would like to up my watts per gallon to 2 for live plants, but was wondering if I should get a longer one. Would it be usesless to get a longer one if the extra light has to go through acrylic before reaching the water? Anyone have any idea if this matters? Anyone have an acrylic tank that they bought an aftermarket hood for? Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I have an acylic with an after market light kit. My hood is roughly 10" shorter than my tank. Everything works out really good. Yours is gonna be 24", obviously thats 12" on both sides. If it was me, I would personally go bigger. The light going through wont be much of a problem, but some light will be reflected around your tank and hood from it. When I did my lights, I used the existing hood and gutted it, then installed the new lights, cords, etc. If I had bought a new hood, I would have gone bigger. Hope this helps!
 
I dont know how the top of your tank is set up, just cant get a picture in my head, sorry. As for light going through the acrylic , you shouldnt have a problem. :joe:
 
i think light refraction through acrylic is near the same level as going torhough water so it will be fine. powercompacts are more powerful and looks nicer than a regular shoplight but you can still have a nice planted tank with a shoplight setup if you change out the bulbs. the PC lights just look a lot more crisp and a lot brighter.
 
Thanks for the help and suggestions guys. Right now my 48 inch lights the tank great in the middle, but the sides are a bit darker. As flyfly pointed out, I have 12 inches on either side. I am getting a new light fixture to bring my wattage up to around 260. This will give me the recommended standard of 2 watts/gal. for live plants. Right now with one 40 watt 6500k I'm at .3 wpg and the few plants I do have are not doing so hot. So what I'm curious about is if it is benificial to get a longer light to reach the sides of the tank better even though these extra inches of light will be going through acrylic. If the acrylic cuts out some of the necessary u.v., I don't want to spend the extra cash for a longer light.
 
My acrylic tank is 36 inches long and I put a 36 inch dual PC light on it. The same standoffs that work on the inside of the acylic openings will work on the outside edges of the tank so you can go full length.
 
In my 48 inch tank i have a 42 inch Interpet beauty light.
 
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