My new 75 is here and I'm putting it all togther now. I have not decided on lights yet. The lfs's around here have some but no displays to compare the different ones. I thougth I'd ask what has worked well for others. I've spent enough so far so that I don't want to go cheap on the lights unless there's no big difference but suspect there might be. T8's, T-12's, compact flourescent's... so many to choose from! I'm fairly handy so DIY's are ok too. I'm looking for what would show off the African Cichlids I plan to keep and no plants at this time. Thanks!
Lighting suggestions
- Thread starter JimZi
- Start date
there are a lot of lights to choose from. I believe that cichlids prefer subdued lighting, in the bluer ranges, because it replicates being at depth. So actinics or 50/50 white/blue bulbs might work. Those don't work great with plants, so it's handy that you don't have to take that into consideration (for the time being). Don't know if the blue light will wash out their colors, though.
I think compact flourescents or other high output lighting may not be suitable to cichlids. But I haven't kept cichlids myself since I was a young'un so somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
T-8s tend to be brighter than T-12's because a smaller diameter bulb means less diffusion of light. I have to use T-8 (haven't upgraded to high output yet) because I have live plants. In your case, it may be a matter of personal preferance and how many bulbs your fixture will end up accomodating.
I think compact flourescents or other high output lighting may not be suitable to cichlids. But I haven't kept cichlids myself since I was a young'un so somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
T-8s tend to be brighter than T-12's because a smaller diameter bulb means less diffusion of light. I have to use T-8 (haven't upgraded to high output yet) because I have live plants. In your case, it may be a matter of personal preferance and how many bulbs your fixture will end up accomodating.
do what im doing with my 75, go to ahsupply.com and order the 55 watt bright kits. im doing 2X55 watt and getting my bulbs from hellolights.com. Then to get exactly 2 watts per gallon im going to add another regular striplight with the 40 watts it comes with next to compact flours. If I want to go higher tech later on ill just replace the regular striplights with 2 more55's from ah.
Ah is known for their very efficient reflectors.
Ah is known for their very efficient reflectors.