Lighting And Canopy Options For A 55g Tank

[celaeno]

i decided to get a 55g tank, either perfecto or all-glass, and need some help on lighting and canopy options. the tank is 48" L x 13" wide. i forget if the perfecto 55g tank has a center brace or not, so if someone could tell me, that'd be good. i think the all-glass tank has a center brace though.

assuming it has a center brace, should i get two 24" full hoods? here ($60)

or two 24" glass canopies and two 24" light strips? here and here ($73)

or a 48" glass canopy and two 24" light strips? ($73)

will more light from the strip light enter the tank if i use glass canopies instead of a full hood?

 

[wendywc]

The center brace would affect whether it would be one 48" long glass lid or two 24" long glass lids, but it should not affect your decision on whether to get one 48" long light strip or two 24" long strips. Up to you. Get the tank first though, so you can measure for the glass lids.

My all-glass 55 gallon has a center brace, but maybe not all of them do.

And also, I'm personally not a fan of full hoods because they usually have poor lighting.

 

[OldMan47]

If you are not going to do live plants, any hood that will fit will be fine. If you are thinking about plants, almost any hood designed for a tank will have far too little light in it. At that point it usually comes down to building a simple box that you call a light hood and mounting a shop light or something similar in it. A $10 shop light will give you twice the light of a typical aquarium hood and can easily be mounted in a simple box above the glass tank cover. The tank cover will keep the moisture down inside the light fixture which will help it last a lot longer.