lights for lake malawi cichlids

L

lereg15

AC Members
Oct 2, 2004
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Englewood, Florida
I have a tank that I'm turning into a lake malawi cichlid tank. The only problem is that I hear that they need alot of light. First of all, how much wpg do I need and what's the ratio between wpg and actual watts. Secondly, I am a pretty handy carpenter and was wondering if anybody had any diy plans for a hood that I could make myself ?
 
never heard of malawi cichlids needing alot of light. IME its not true, I have yellow labs successfully spawning (frequently) in low light conditions and they appear healthy.
 
The only reason any fish would need light at even low levels would be to find food, a mate, or see a possible predator.

I've never heard of a fish that 'needed' high light levels. Or even prefered high light. I've read of several fish that prefer low light conditions to feel more secure.
 
i didn't see much of a reason for high light either , but one lfs that I went to said they did. I guess they don't know what they're talking about. Can anyone tell me about the conversion from wpg and actual watts? Thanks
 
If you have one 60 watt bulb on a 10 gallon aquarium then you have 6 watts per gallon.

For low-light plants I've read around 2-3 watts per gallon.

For high-light I've read around 5 or so.

If you had, say a 55 gallon and you were going to plant high-light requiring plants, then 55 * 5=275 watts or close to.
 
Thanks for all your help. I think I have some sort of plan now. One more thing with the hood. What type of wood would be good to use that wouldn't warp?
Thanks again
 
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