Light

[StarOrbs]

I have to go somewhere in a little while so I'm hoping someone will know here. Does anyone know lighting for a 55 gallon, around 18in depth of water thats great for plants. I want pretty high lighting so I can do most kind of plants. Somewhere around $200 or $250 would be good. Any ideas?

I already have a DIY hood so anything that could fit that would be great, but I can comprimise.
Estimated dimensions for my tank.
Length: 47.5"
Width: 12"
Depth: 18"
Distance from light: ~21"

After looking around, I found Ah supply has what I want.. Great bulbs, great reflector, has a ballast. Bulb prices aren't too bad. It should only cost me around $200.
I plan on getting 4x55W which turns out to be about 220W, which is theoretically 4WPG but will be less because of the height of my tank being 21" from light source.

Since I found from a few sites including this its good to have a bit of a variety within the spectrum good for plants. So I think I will get these:
1 x 55W 5000K
1 x 55W 5500K
2 x 55W 6700K

 

[Dubby]

Looks good. A lot of the light would go waste because of the distance between your lights and tank. ANy particular reason its so far?

 

[StarOrbs]

It won't be on my new setup. It will be a lot closer to the water. I couldn't do it before because I don't have a plexiglass cover yet between the lights and the water.

 

[Dubby]

You dont always need a plexiglass cover. If you are using fluorescent tubes they will be fine even pretty close to the water. The only drawback is formation of limescale on the tubes, so you will need to clean them once in a while.

I have a Juwel tank and these have tubes which are about 2-3 inches above the waterline, with nothing in between.

 

[daza]

Consider the end-caps too. They have IP ratings:

IP64 is splash-proof
IP67 is water-proof

So you want at least IP64. I imagine that any of the ones made for aquariums will meet that.