Lighting Equipment For 5Ft Cichlid Tank?

[kaivalagi]

Hi All,

I am looking at what lighting equipment to purchase for use in a new Seabray Dolphin 5ft tank, any suggestions/recommendations?

The tank will measure 60"x18"x18", and has a glass top and hood with enough of a gap for most light fittings. I think the common approach is to rest lighting on top of the glass top but as I haven't got the tank & cabinet yet it's kinda hard to make the judgement call on what's best.

It will be a cichlid tank with one end rocky with slate wall and caving etc, a bogwood centre piece with a fair few plants, then more of a sandy out crop at the other end with not too much vegetation I think (at the mo!). None of the plants are likely to need a great amount of light. I'll probably plant the usual hardy plants, such as java fern, vallis, anubias...so I guess nothing above 1-1.5W/Gallon is necessary. The substrate will be silica sand (toying with some gravel at the cavey end)

In my current smaller tank I only have the lights on for about 6-7 hours a day, any more and I get serious hair algae growth...so I expect to keep to this same duration with lighting in this tank...sound about right?

I may well end up using T5 bulbs (based on what I've read so far) but am open to other suggestions except for any overhead fixtures as the tank already has a nice hood. I don't expect to pay any more than £200 but if there's an argument to go over than then I am all ears

Any thoughts? Any Seabray Dolphin owners out there? Any tips from your experiences? Any recommended brands?


At the mo I am figuring a brand name twin ballast to support 2 x T5 54W but am not sure on the length I can go with yet...

Thanks for any feedback

Cheers,
Mark

 

[kaivalagi]

Anyone with any recommendations on lighting? Should I go the extra mile with led lighting? I like the idea of being able to control the level of light...but all I have seen is terribly expensive...anyone managed a DIY led setup equivalent to 100W of T5?

I know I could just go with a defacto t5 ballast and 2 x tubes but don't want to spend if I then decide going led's is much better...any experiences to share?

 

[kaivalagi]

Anyone got any advice? Will 2 x t5 tubes mount nice in the hood of a Seabray Dolphin tank do you think?

I really need to have a close look at the tank and hood for myself but can anyone endulge me in the meantime?

 

[waterdrop]

It sounds like you've researched the basics. You already know you're going to aim for the 1.0 to 1.5 watt/USgallon range and that is correct for low-light technique plant care. I don't see you mention, and its good to know, that those wattages were created based on T8 or T12 (I forget whether both or one or the other.) T5 systems are more efficient with power and therefor put off more photons per watt, so you'll want lower total wattage but I don't know how much less.

LEDs are even stranger and harder to get information about. There have been one or two members doing projects of putting them in but I don't know how the searches would be to find those threads. I believe I read at one time that the photon throw pattern from LEDs was a little more linear like lasers and that somehow this meant light that bathed the plants below was somehow not as filling and smooth (not that I understood that, lol.) At the very least I'd be wary and stay with fluorescents unless I knew I'd found good LED info.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[kaivalagi]

Thanks waterdrop

Yep, I guess it's just down to picking my preference in brand and style of T5 gear, do you have any recommendations or are they all much of a muchness?

It's a shame as I was just thinking how great it would be if led lights could brighten and dim mimicking sunrise and sunset...I think you can do this with the expensive Aquaray/TMC lights and controllers, but that's just out of my budget altogether. I did electronics engineering at uni, I should really get the old books out and have a crack at led lights and a controller circuit to bring on and turn off the lights slowly or straight away depending on a switch. it's been a long time since those days and I program now so I am a tad rusty with all of that physical world stuff
[font="Arial] [/font]

 

[waterdrop]

Well I tried my hand at searching for whatever youtube video (or where ever it was) I'd seen with a UK guy demonstrating his homemade LED system that could brighten and dim based on clock inputs from the chips he was using. Couldn't find it, sorry. I remember him having a whole string of lights stretched out in a line and they really did go up and then down in brightness.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[kaivalagi]

Well I tried my hand at searching for whatever youtube video (or where ever it was) I'd seen with a UK guy demonstrating his homemade LED system that could brighten and dim based on clock inputs from the chips he was using. Couldn't find it, sorry. I remember him having a whole string of lights stretched out in a line and they really did go up and then down in brightness.

~~waterdrop~~

I have just started a project topic, although the LEDs in question will complement tubes rather than replace...but the fade will be in 3/4 stages, still not entirely smooth on transition but stepped...I'll have to search for a youtube vid on led lighting with fading...

The topic is here: http/www.fishforum...ircuit-project/

I may change the project direction if I can find out about this project you've mentioned...I like the idea of LEDs providing the main light too...

I did find this on youtube but the guy is using a PLC I think, way outta budget Maybe I could program a microcontroller...I've done that before now for autonomous robots
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppVPqgzkVGI

 

[waterdrop]

That was not the same video I remember seeing but the effect was very similar, although I don't thing the one I saw had as many LED lights. WD