Lighting Options...

[.:brianlovesfishies:.]

just a little lost about different lighting options...i currently have a 32G tank and are planning only to have fish, no plants...

i also want my electric bill under control and plan to leave the hood lit for a significant amount of time...

whats is the best all around configuration? T5? T6? or T8?

and daylight 12000K or the actinic?

from my understanding, T6 is similar to T5 and more efficient than T8?

which lasts longer? which is more efficient? which is uneccesary if i only plan to have fish and no plants?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!

 

[waterdrop]

It depends on whether you are planning a freshwater or saltwater tank.

If freshwater and no plants then lighting is not really required and in fact less light will usually be preferred by the tropical fish, however you may wish to be able to see these fish you have obtained!

T8,T5 etc. are terms for the width of a flourescent tube. The "T" tube designation means "fraction of 8 parts wide." Thus, T8 means 8/8 or 1 inch. T5 means 5/8 or 5/8 of an inch.

The T designation doesn't say anything about either the lumens of light given off or the efficiency of electricity used to achieve that light energy. Those are 2 more separate things.

Generally, though, T8 tubes would be the more traditional straight 1 inch thick flourescent bulbs that have been around a long time. T5 tubes are thinner and usually more efficient and come as U-shapes, compact coils or straight tubes - often U-shaped or straight for aquarium lights.

Lights with different color spectra will make your fish, substrate and decorations look sometimes dramatically different. Bulbs giving off different strengths of parts of the blue and red spectrum regions are quite common because of their use with aquarium plants. There's lots of info here and on the web if you search. I even saw a nice comparison, that I can't find again, but that showed different lights on the same tank and the fishkeeper matched his white filter tube with the most natural white as a way to pick the best combo of tubes!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[.:brianlovesfishies:.]

thanks for the thorough response...that pretty much covers the rudimentary concepts for me...ill look more into it...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Here is a great article about tank lighting in general. it covers a lot of ground but ina very easy to understand manner.
Artificial Lighting