Lighting Requirement

[L018]

Hi everyone

Am going to be getting a 60x24x24 tank, which will be quite heavily planted.

Have tried using the pinned lighting guide to work out my lighting requirements. Am interested in the arcadia freshwater bulbs, but either my maths is out or I will need 6x58w bulbs in order to get 2.32wpg. Does this sound right?

 

[neovector]

Welcome L018!!!

If you work out the capacity of the tank, in US gallons:
60"=152cm
24"=61cm
152cmx61cmx61cm = 565592cm cubed
Divided by 1000 = 565.592 litres
Divided by 3.78 = 149.63 US gallons

So you have basically 150 gallons.

150gallons multiplied by 2.32 = 348
Divided by 6 tubes = ....... 58watts per tube.

Spot on!!!

Remember to use reflectors on all lamps aswell.

 

[L018]

Thanks for that , wanted a second opinion as I hadn't seen/heard of anyone using 6 tubes before.

 

[George Farmer]

You don't need that much light over a 5x2x2'. The wpg guide is more leanient with larger volumes.

Anything over 2wpg is high lighting with that size tank, so you'd need to plant heavily, inject CO2 via a pressurized system and add fertilisers regularly. Lots of maintenance.

I'm using just one of these for my 5x2x2'. It's only just over 1wpg but with good CO2, substrate and ferts I'll be able to grow most things.

http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue...s-t5-lights.asp
http/www.theaquariumsolution.com/?q=node/95

It comes with excellent reflectors too. The 2 x 80w HO T5 model fits perfectly across 5'.

If you wanted high light, then two units would work very well.

 

[L018]

Thanks for the links George, hadn't seen these units before.