Hi Shilo

Congratulation. Glad it worked out. all you need is the guts to do it. Lots of people are affraid of 240V. So they should be. But if you use common sense even the amateur can do it. Now the 72 Watt you say you have, that is what should be in the tank. For plantgrowth.

Happy growing....

John

I have a 3 foot tank with a timber hood, inside that I have a single fluro tube assembly for lighting.....

I am keeping african cichlids, so lighting plants up are not a concern....

I want to light the tank up as much as possible so as to bring out all the colours of the fish.. I have the facilities to stick in some MH units (I am a sales manager for a company that makes them) however I am concerned with the heat dissipated from the lamp onto the water....

If I use MH I was thinking of 2 X 250W units.... top of the tank to top of the hood is about 150mm

If I dont use MH units, what combination/Type and qty of lamps would you recommend....

HI Dartz...

If I use MH I was thinking of 2 X 250W units....

Now i am a "fan" of plenty of light but as you ausies say.... "strewth mate!"

I am also no expert on the ciclids however i belive the genral rule of thumb is they prefer "low light" try a of 3 foot Daylight might be a better start.

DJ

Agreed. MH only needs to be used in freshwater when intensive plant growth is desired.

I'm using 2 x 250W on my 2.4m tank and that's plenty. Yours is only 0.9m so one would be more than enough. You'll have to dump your hood though as they need to be about 0.5m above the water surface or you'll burn the plants and fish. With Africans, MH will also cause mega algae...

I have a 3 foot tank with a timber hood, inside that I have a single fluro tube assembly for lighting.....If I dont use MH units, what combination/Type and qty of lamps would you recommend....

Just a cool white tube in that single fluro assembly would be enough for your africans. How many watts is the fluro assembly? 30w?

Do you have plants in the tank?

I think it is a 30w, have also added blue night light as well which gives it a little boost and looks good at night

HI Dartz,

Some info FYI. In Auckland there is a Pet shop that has has 2500l circular display tank. At the moment it is configured as a milawi tank. Lighting consist of 4x double 4ft T8's. (thats 8x36W tubes). The tubes are a mixture of "white" and actinic blue.

So using the good old watts per litre ' rule of thumb' lighting on a watt per litre basis is .11Wpl (288 W /2500l).

Hth

JOhn