Lights for a 180 planted tank

[Feafur]

Ok....
I'll start off by saying that I'm probably the cheapest person you've ever met! hahahha
I have this wonderful tank that I would love to plant, but I would also have
to dig deep into my wallet and I'm hoping to instead BUILD my own lighting.
Here's my question. Is there a chart somewhere that will completely explain or compare all the different types of lighting? I really just need to know how much of each type of light I would need to grow lots of luschious plants!
If anyone can help me I would appreciate it greatly!
I've seen lots of DIY lighting online and want to give it a whirl, but most of them are for smaller aquariums that don't need nearly as much light as I'm sure I'll need.
Thanks a bunch!

 

[BoredAgain]

How about a canopy with lots of CFLs?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Read this article on lighting http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4742/lighting.html

 

[jm1212]

great article TwoTankAdmin

some DIY kits may end up costing you just as much as a new lighting fixture.

 

[Feafur]

Wow

I have alot to chew on with that article!
Thanks guys I knew you would be the best place to start!
I'll let you know what I decide when I have finished
reading this article....sometime next month.
Did I also mention, I'm not real bright????? hahahaha
Kim

 

[amy]

I've got a 180g that's currently empty and I'm also shopping for lights. I'm planning on a low tech planted tank with angels and a big school of tetras.

I like the concept of T5s because of the energy efficiency and longevity of bulbs, but I'm trying to make up my mind about how many and what length to get. The two top contenders, either of which I'll have to build a box to stagger the lights over the 6ft long tank:
1x 2x80W http://www.specialty-lights.com/960093.html
or
2x 2x54W http://www.specialty-lights.com/250525.html

Am I asking for trouble if I go with the 5ft long 2x80W? It's just under 1 WPG, and it's harder to find bulbs, but it's cheaper for now. I don't really plan for C02, or big ferts. If the planted tank bug really hits, it seems like it would be pretty easy for me to build a bigger box and more kits later on.

Any other pros or cons I should consider when making my decision?

 

[rustygmc]

The 60" t5s can be found cheaper at http://www.horticulturesource.com/p.../2043?osCsid=2bf9357d36d03a89c031b24948f93335 . I have been shopping for lights for my 125g and have decided that I am probably going to run 2 sets of the 60" retrokits.

 

[Spewn]

Figure out how many lumens you want covering your tank, that's the first thing to do. Ignore watts. Why?

An F72T12 VHO will give you 10,500 lumens***. An F80T5 HO will give you 6575. However, the T12 is 1.5" in diamter, while the T5 is only .5".

If you have the room for your desired light level with T12's, that's your most energy-efficient bet by far. In-fact, T12VHO's can push about twice as much light as T5HO's. T5's win for light density/intensity, but not total light output.

T12's are probably going to be cheaper, but who knows.
***edited...

 

[Plecosterone]

I use overdriven shop lights with great success and they are cheap. T8 6,700K daylight bulbs can be bought almost anywhere for about $7.00 Cdn. for 2 bulbs. Right now I am only using 2 - 32 watt overdriven bulbs in my 90 and have no problem growing most plants. I have 4 overdriven in the canopy but only use 2 of them.

 

[j_chicago]

I was also going to suggest shop lights but with the picture in your avatar, thats a deep tank. try looking at http://ahsupply.com/, they have great reflectors to push the light to the bottom.