Neil,

I see your concerns... It is really 1 MH smack bang in the middle of a
nearly 4' aquarium... you would have a 'hot spot' in the middle and then
the two compacts at the end... The guy at my LFS, who started my on my
planted aquarium has a 5' with 2 x 2' compact fluro's over it and he has
exellent growth and his tank is 2' deep, i think it's more to do with the
position of the lights over the tank and how high you have them suspended...
I think the ends of the tank would not be as bright as the middle, that's
for sure, with the ends being lit by the compacts and the middle by the MH,
but you would have some overlap of the MH and compacts. I think the MH
would light a good 3' of the tank, so that leaves only 6" of the tank all
up, to be lit by the compacts. I think you'll be fine.

But, please don't just base your purchase on my opinion (i would hate myself
if you weren't happy with the purchase!!) Contact Giesemann (there is a
contact button at the top of the page at
http://www.giesemann.de/en/meerwasse.../230_daten.php) and let them
know of your concerns and see what they say. let me know too if you do
contact them if you could, as I like the look of their light and I am
interested in getting one for my next aquarium.

Hope this helps...

Justin.



"Neil Woodman" wrote in message
...
Hi Justin,

Thanks for taking the time out to look at that I appreciate it.

I've been looking at the options, while I think the arcadia unit with the
plant pro tubes is probably wisest to get overall I would really want to
use is MH bulbs.

The giesemann unit you mentioned I dont think comes with extra t5 tubes,
that one seems to be the Giesemann System 230 ECO / PLUS which is £294,
this is only 24" wide so I'm worried I am not going to get enough light
coverage from it, what do you think? It's certainly the best price I have
seen.

Thanks,

Neil


Justin wrote:

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
http://www.1st4aquatics.com/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&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
http://www.shopsolution.nl/shop/home.asp?shopid=seameuk&deptid=giesemannsystem2
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