oldwhitewood
Fishaholic
Hey guys,
I'm going through the process of setting up a new tank and was wondering if anyone had any advice on which lighting option I should go for? The tank will be 40"x18"x18" and be open topped, so I want some kind of lighting solution that I can hang over it.
First off I really want to use MH lighting as that to me gives the best look over the tank, problem is the units themselves are really expensive. My other fallback option is to use a T5 setup
option 1 - 2 150w AquaMedic Ocean lights - these are meant for marine tanks and retail at about £150 each. I'm not sure if I would have to swap the bulbs for 5k versions though
option 2 - ARCADIA SERIES 3 (1X 150W METAL HALIDE) 70cm - this would fit over the tank, the problem is I think it comes with actincts so I would have to swop that, but I am worried I am not going to get enough light coverage for my tank and the sides will be too dim
option 3 - ARCADIA overtank T5 luminaire 100cm - this has 4 T5 tubes and retails at about £200, you can get a version of it with Arcadias new 'plant pro' tubes but I'm not sure how effective they would be, what do you guys think I should do?
At the moment I am starting to think the arcadia MH is the best option because you can control the T5s and MH separately so I could have a midday period, this would be in accordance with ADA's principles I think, although I should note ADA use a different kind of compact tube, its more like those Interpet daylight twin tubes (which I run on my current tank). But as I say getting a good light spread across the whole tank is worrying me. I'm aiming for this kind of setup hardware wise, setup by ADG based in Houston, Texas.
This picture shows the ADA lights they typically use, this one would go over a 90cm aquarium
I'm going through the process of setting up a new tank and was wondering if anyone had any advice on which lighting option I should go for? The tank will be 40"x18"x18" and be open topped, so I want some kind of lighting solution that I can hang over it.
First off I really want to use MH lighting as that to me gives the best look over the tank, problem is the units themselves are really expensive. My other fallback option is to use a T5 setup
option 1 - 2 150w AquaMedic Ocean lights - these are meant for marine tanks and retail at about £150 each. I'm not sure if I would have to swap the bulbs for 5k versions though
option 2 - ARCADIA SERIES 3 (1X 150W METAL HALIDE) 70cm - this would fit over the tank, the problem is I think it comes with actincts so I would have to swop that, but I am worried I am not going to get enough light coverage for my tank and the sides will be too dim
option 3 - ARCADIA overtank T5 luminaire 100cm - this has 4 T5 tubes and retails at about £200, you can get a version of it with Arcadias new 'plant pro' tubes but I'm not sure how effective they would be, what do you guys think I should do?
At the moment I am starting to think the arcadia MH is the best option because you can control the T5s and MH separately so I could have a midday period, this would be in accordance with ADA's principles I think, although I should note ADA use a different kind of compact tube, its more like those Interpet daylight twin tubes (which I run on my current tank). But as I say getting a good light spread across the whole tank is worrying me. I'm aiming for this kind of setup hardware wise, setup by ADG based in Houston, Texas.
This picture shows the ADA lights they typically use, this one would go over a 90cm aquarium
/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/Z500133.asp
