Best Lighting System

I have a 46 gallon Oceanic bowfront freshwater community tank
populated with a few real plants and am considering the purchase of
replacement lamps or a new lighting system.

I currently have a 36" Coralife fixture with one T5 10,000K, 21 watt
lamp and one Actinic Bluelight, 21 watt lamp.

I would appreciate your recommendations regarding light systems,
lamps, ...

On Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:15:43 -0700 (PDT), Larry B wrote:

I have a 46 gallon Oceanic bowfront freshwater community tank
populated with a few real plants and am considering the purchase of
replacement lamps or a new lighting system.

I currently have a 36" Coralife fixture with one T5 10,000K, 21 watt
lamp and one Actinic Bluelight, 21 watt lamp.

I would appreciate your recommendations regarding light systems,
lamps, ...

I've got a 1.2m tank and have installed an Arcadia Twin 54W Electronic
Ballast:
http://www.arcadia-uk.info/product.p...n=en&sub=&id=4

I've used two J5 Plant Pro lamps at 54W/42 inches:
http://www.arcadia-uk.info/product.p...n=en&sub=&id=4

The J5 ones are shorter than standard T5 lamps but have the same power
and light output. They fit into the hood of my Fluval aquarium reaching
almost to the ends.

They are much brighter than the original T8s supplied and the colours
are also much better as is plant growth. The electronic ballast is a
nice piece of kit and doesn't even get warm so it's very efficient. I
also fitted an Arcadia reflector to each tube.

You need to make sure you can fit the tubes into your hood though and
you need somewhere to bolt the tube clips to. There is about(at least?)
six feet of cable for each tube holder so it's very flexible to fit.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

On Oct 21, 10:15*am, Larry B wrote:
I have a 46 gallon Oceanic bowfront freshwater community tank
populated with a few real plants and am considering the purchase of
replacement lamps or a new lighting system.

I currently have a 36" Coralife fixture with one T5 10,000K, 21 watt
lamp and one Actinic Bluelight, 21 watt lamp.

I would appreciate your recommendations regarding light systems,
lamps, ...

The old rule of thumb is to use at least 3 watts per gallon when using
flourescents.

Cam

In article ,
Cam in Toronto wrote:
On Oct 21, 10:15*am, Larry B wrote:
I have a 46 gallon Oceanic bowfront freshwater community tank
populated with a few real plants and am considering the purchase of
replacement lamps or a new lighting system.

I currently have a 36" Coralife fixture with one T5 10,000K, 21 watt
lamp and one Actinic Bluelight, 21 watt lamp.

I would appreciate your recommendations regarding light systems,
lamps, ...

The old rule of thumb is to use at least 3 watts per gallon when using
flourescents.

But rules, like thumbs, get broken. 3wpg is great if you're growing
certain kids of plants but you can get by with (a lot, sometimes)
less if you're growing plants ahtat are tolerant to low light
levels - Crypts, anubias, ferns etc.

Lose the actinic, it does no good in freshwater whatsoever. Replace it
with a regular bulb and you've made the first real improvement.

Cheap warm white tubes are fine BTW. They're as good if not better
that any pricey tube.

--
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On Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:37:12 +0000 (UTC), Richard Sexton wrote:

I currently have a 36" Coralife fixture with one T5 10,000K, 21 watt
lamp and one Actinic Bluelight, 21 watt lamp.

snip

Lose the actinic, it does no good in freshwater whatsoever. Replace it
with a regular bulb and you've made the first real improvement.

Not strictly true to be honest. Photosynthesis does use the blue end of
the spectrum as well as the yellow and red end. It's green that isn't
really needed, after all most plants reflect it :-)

There is a nice primer on photosynthesis he
http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/...BioBookPS.html

and a couple of graphs show the absorbtion, about a third of the way
down.

The OP has really got marine lighting and would be best to dump both of
them for freshwater and plants.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk