HI,

I have a fairly shallow but long tank at 1200x250x250 and was wondering if something like this would be enough to light it sufficiently?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Building-renov ... 092096.htm

or

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Building-renov ... 348912.htm

The second one has a colour temp of 6000-6500k (apparently?) but in a demo in the shop they didn't do much more than light a few cm's in front of the light in daylight. Not that that's a good test but it wasn't like a CREE LED which can spotlight a wall across the room in daylight.

What do you think? I'm going the cheap way of course but I want to make sure it'll at least look good and light the tank well enough that the fish and plants in the future will be happy with it.

Are there better ways of doing this? Oh, and it's for a freshwater tank.

Cheers

Dan

Im no expert but I would say that they would be no way bright enough to be any use in a tank

I have a blue led strip light that I tried out for a moon light. It worked ok so I have just bought a white strip to try lighting a 50 l tank. I don't think it will be very good for plants but some low light stuff might grow. I just wanted to see the fish

I have seen 5m of this with power box included in Bunnings for $25 with the xmas lights.

You might be better off with cheap desk lamps and 6500 daylight CLF bulbs.

I have a blue led strip light that I tried out for a moon light. It worked ok so I have just bought a white strip to try lighting a 50 l tank. I don't think it will be very good for plants but some low light stuff might grow. I just wanted to see the fish

I have seen 5m of this with power box included in Bunnings for $25 with the xmas lights.

You might be better off with cheap desk lamps and 6500 daylight CLF bulbs.

How does the white strip work during the day for viewing the fish? I'm considering just making it a fish only tank so this might be a good option if it works.

Wouldn't a lamp style CFL need to be quite high off the tank to light the length of it at 1200 long? (I predict the answer is 'buy more than one')

I haven't set it up yet and I'm running away for a few days so I'll let you know when I get back.

Yep - more than one.

:lol: :lol:

I haven't set it up yet and I'm running away for a few days so I'll let you know when I get back.

Yep - more than one.

:lol: :lol:

haha, choice! Have a good trip.

I finally tried out the strip light and it ok but not that great. You get heaps more light from a CLF.

It's ok for my tank - its got a built in lid so was easy to string it up under the lid ( plus its waterproof) and its only for fry - so I can see them but I wouldn't bother for a bigger tank.

My tank is 50 cm high and I tried it on a 25cm high tank with better results- lit it up much more but I still like the fluro better.

DD1 has a 4ft with a lid and I got a cheap 4ft fluoro fitting from Bunnings ( even cheaper on TM $35 I think) and a couple of 6500k bulbs approx $10 each .

Other tank with a lid I put 2 battons in thru the back of the lid and used 6500k CLFs or you could make one like this

Or try the desk lamp thing.

You could get a 4 ft aqua one aquarium light pretty cheap on TM too

Good luck.

That 4ft light fixture on top of my 4ftr, was $35 with two bulbs included. All my plant growth was done under them