lighting for new tank

[evilknieval69]

hey guys

i am in the process of setting up a new 2 ft planted tank running DIY CO2. i am hoping to get a couple of rams to put in it. anyway, my nanas friend is a retired electrician and so i am going to get him to wire up a light(or two) for me.where is the best place to buy cheap fluorescent light(s) that will be strong enough for the plants.i just need to source and buy the lights and he will do the rest. any help about where to get them or brands or anything would be great

Thanks :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[shiuh]

hiya evil,

dont know if i can be much help here, but check out bunnings warehouse, they got some good flourescent lighting range there. i got my 18w flourescent tube for $2.

[LYNDYLOO]

Any Electrical Supply shop should have them, dont need fancy aquarium bulbs, just normal fluro's will do, thats all I use and they are fine.

Lynda

[Caryl]

We get ours from Mastertrade and just get bright white or daylight tubes.

[Warren]

Use colour 86 or 96 tubes. The colour rating specifies how close the natural sunlight the tube is. 100 = sunlight so 96 is pretty good. 86 is a lot cheaper, still works really well and looks good. Colour 84 is a lot pinker and while it works ok for growing aquatic plants, distorts the colours of the fish. It will however make Ram's look great, bringing out the reds and blues really well. Colour 96 is very natural and the fish will look more realistic but the blues and reds won't show up as well.

Any tube from 84 to 96 will work fine, it's really down to personal choice. The really cheap tubes with a yellow/orange colour are not very good for growing aquatic plants. The $2 ones you get are really cheap and are not designed for aquariums.

[Zev]

Is 7000k excessive for a freshwater planted tank?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/0004-3 ... 889857.htm

Would it need to be a single fitting, or would a double be better?

Same size tank as above.

[suphew]

7000K is fine, normal day light tubes are 6200k (or something close to that). I would go for at least 2 if you are planning of growing plants, I have used a single 2 foot on a tank and it was pretty dark. If your planning on using CO2 I would even go with 2 doubles, or at least make sure I allowed for adding another double fitting in the light hood.

[Zev]

Why do you need more light if you're adding Co2?

Is there a rate for lighting eg watts per surface area, or depth. Or is colour temp more important?

[DiverJohn]

I am running a 3x30W 965 tubes (6500K) + 3x30W 880 (8000K) on my 250l planted tank. Inject CO2, PMDD, plant growth is...... good (could be an understatment tho )

And no the fish dont wear sunglasses

Zev as for more light with CO2..

Its because CO2 is like "plant food", light is "plant energy", if you supply lots of light (energy) you need lots more plant food to make your plants grow. and Visa versa. Does that make sense??