Hi Neil,

I just read your post and had a look at the Dupla site... They have a 2 x 70 watt or a 2 x 150 watt that is 88cm long... I know that it's extremely expensive (629.00 Euro at http://www.seame.com ), but they appear to be out there in a size that is suitable for your tank...

I had a look at some UK sites and there is a 4 tube 40" lighting system for 199.99 at http://www.1st4aquatics.com/index.as...productid=1502 which seems ok..

Next is an arcadia 110cm 2x 150 watt MH + 2 x flourescents with built in timers - can do the dawn and dusk thing, but this is pricey at 599.95..

also at Seame.com there are some Giesemann Lighting systems... This one in particular SYSTEM 230 eco / 1 x 70Watt (which also comes in 150watt and 250 watt) appears perfect. It also has 2 x compact fluro's and is fully adjustable vertically and horizontally, suitable for aquariums up to 70cm deep and 100 long, comes in different colours and is 353 Euro or 239.34 pound... http://www.shopsolution.nl/shop/home...esemannsystem2 if I were you, I would go for this one... it's not too expensive and allows versitility in that you could run the compacts as the tank is getting started and then built up to the MH's when the tank is established... at 239.34 with no postage costs i think it's pretty resonable...

I think with a 18" deep aquarium you could get away with T5's, it's dependant on which plants you want to grow and also if you fancy attaching a MH to your roof (or having a stand built for it like I did) that is unless they come with stands, which some do...

Hope this helps.

Justin.



"Neil Woodman" wrote in message ...
I posted this to aquaticplantcentral but I thought I would stick it here too so you guys could have a look

I'm looking to setup another tank and I'm having some trouble with lighting. Basically I have comitted to having a tank made, which is 40"x18"x18" - 100x45x45. I want this to be quite close to the ADA type of tank, so lighting is obviously a concern. I would love to use MH bulbs over the tank but I'm having trouble finding a suitable model, I think I would need 2 150w MH bulbs for this tank, I can find these units but they're incredibly expensive and too long.

I have seen one light unit by Aqua One, which comprises of a single 150w mh bulb and 2 24w T5 bulbs, would this be suitable? Costs about £250. I think its meant for a 36" tank but I cant see how much difference an extra 4" would make.

My other option is to go for 2 single 150w MH Aqua Medic Ocean Lights, which would cost about £300 all told. Do you think this would be too much light?

Finally I could go for a 40" T5 lighting pendant which comprises of 4x 39w T5s I think, that would be £229.

Could you guys advise me on the best course of action? I would love to use MH lights but I'm not sure if I actually can now in retrospect.

Thanks,

Neil