Lighting Up Grade

[simonbrown403]

I,m unhappy with my current lighting mod i did on my juwel record 96.
I think because all the tubes are at the front, its a little dark at the back, and also it plays havoc when trying to take pics.

What i,m planning is to build a pendent light, i was thinking along the lines of 4 * 24watt t5 tubes giving me a total of 96watt at 4.3watts per gal.
I was thinking i might put individual switches/timers to each tube, so i could create a more natural dusk and dawn effect and switch some of the tubes off for pics so i don't get that white haze and reflection of the plants.

I wanted a pendent type because i like the idea of plants growing out of the water and flowering.

I,ve looked around on the net and have sourced all the stuff and recon i can make it for well under £100, which it would cost over for a two tube Arcadia unit.

My first questions on the amount of light required for a 96ltr/22gal tank (UK) would they be to much, or maybe to much for there plants i have
When buying tubes what should i looking for ie colour temp, spectrum etc

Any input welcome.

 

[littleimp]

I use the 6 x 54w aqua-medic plant T5 tubes. These are full spectrum lamps and in the 3weeks my tanks has been setup most plants have shown 50-100% growth & all look very healthy with no algae yet either. I was gonna get the arcadia T5 full spectrum but found a cheap source of the aqua-medic ones. Check this out.


Pack of 4 24w T5 tubes £24.68!!

http/www.fishfurfeather.com/lights-t5-tu...c-1_47_105.html

 

[simonbrown403]

Thanks for the link littleimp, that should make the whole thing even cheaper, i was looking at £11+ per tube.

It dosn't say what size the tubes are, they cants be much longer then 2'.

I'd been talking to one of the lads at my lfs shop and he was saying, its better to look for tube under 4000k output, as anything over will promote algue.
He recomended dernerl

 

[zig]

I think 4000k tubes will look yellow, i use 6500k tubes, tubes around 6500k tend to look the most natural IMO colour wise, any tube between 5000-7500k would be ok in my experience, generally the lower you go temprature wise the more yellow or warm the tube will be.

But you could use a mix of tubes although in T5s i think the choices are quite limited.

The prices in the link above are very good especially the 4 tube pack.

 

[simonbrown403]

I think 4000k tubes will look yellow,

He said that the yellow tubes where better as the light they give of is more usable to plants, but most aquarmists didt like them because of the yellow tint.

Its confuising