Which of these lights is better?

[tinytawnykitten]

I have a 4ft cichlid tank and as I have mentioned on here before, my lighting is very depressing. I have one of these and one of these, both with relatively new bulbs, but the lighting is very drab.

Would either of these make a big difference to my tank?

this one or the 120cm version of this one?

[the-obstacle]

You don't need the blue in the LED one but it will be an improvement over the current setup. I'd go with the t5 ho setup.

[Squirt]

If you're going to sell the 40D put me down :thup:

[ryanjury]

What is the K rating of the tubes you are using at the moment?

[SamH]

All I can see is algae with those lights, unless you have some plants and serious CO2 input?

[tinytawnykitten]

What is the K rating of the tubes you are using at the moment?

I'll check tomorrow morning :-)

[spoon]

All I can see is algae with those lights, unless you have some plants and serious CO2 input?

not nessarily why turn the lights on for 12 hrs a day if you arent growing plants just turn them on wen you are home and watching the tank the fish wont care. also blur light is great for africans especially if you have peacocks and the sort it really brings out the blues i dont think you could go wrong with either of those although the leds may be a bit dim

[tinytawnykitten]

not nessarily why turn the lights on for 12 hrs a day if you arent growing plants just turn them on wen you are home and watching the tank the fish wont care. also blur light is great for africans especially if you have peacocks and the sort it really brings out the blues i dont think you could go wrong with either of those although the leds may be a bit dim

Thanks for that. I only have the tank lights on from about midday until about 7pm and it gets quite a bit of natural light anyway.

I'll look at buying the T5 one then and see how that goes. Does that look like a good price?

[ryanjury]

I would check the k rating of your bulbs first.. When I first started out I brought some 4300k tubes and they were a dull orange colour, if you really want to make your tank nice and bright and white then go to something like 10000k tubes and it may brighten it up without having to buy a new light.. How deep is the tank? Also is the cover glass removed/clean?

[tinytawnykitten]

I would check the k rating of your bulbs first.. When I first started out I brought some 4300k tubes and they were a dull orange colour, if you really want to make your tank nice and bright and white then go to something like 10000k tubes and it may brighten it up without having to buy a new light.. How deep is the tank? Also is the cover glass removed/clean?

Cover glass clean and K rating all 10000 or more. The tank is quite deep. It is Alex's old one - 60cm deep.

[Artem]

Definitely go with the T5HO ones for a 60cm deep tank. Those LEDs will be useless for something so tall.

[jackp]

i have a 60cm deep 4ft tank with africans in it. i bought 2 90cm t5 double light units. the algae went nuts. i have now cut down to 1 double light unit (1 white bulb, 1 blue bulb). this provides enough light and the blue bulb makes my dems look awesome. the units i got were sunsun units off trademe.