kaivalagi
Fish Herder
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
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