Currently looking to replace the lighting for my aquarium but its confusing as hell. Does anyone have any recommendations for places m/ what to buy(UK)? With it being not far from the surface of the water and potential sloshing of water during water changes, what IP rating would be most suitable?
Lighting
- Thread starter Steve2717
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Uberhoust
Fish Herder
Don't know what is available in the UK but in regards to IP rating I would get the highest available if it was the biggest difference between a selection of lamps. Assuming a general light I would target 5000 to 6500 degrees Kelvin light with a par rating 70 to 100 at 12" or 30cm.
If you are going LED most leds now have a power supply that converts the 120 or 240 volt power to typically something around 20 volts dc. The risk of hurting yourself or your fish with these lights is much lower than before. So for LED lights the issue is really how much water spray or humidity is the light going to be exposed to. If the lights are under the canopy a high IP rating is useful. If your lights are above a glass cover then the IP rating is not as important.
If you are going LED most leds now have a power supply that converts the 120 or 240 volt power to typically something around 20 volts dc. The risk of hurting yourself or your fish with these lights is much lower than before. So for LED lights the issue is really how much water spray or humidity is the light going to be exposed to. If the lights are under the canopy a high IP rating is useful. If your lights are above a glass cover then the IP rating is not as important.
Yeah im looking at getting dimmable rgb ones. Ive already been advised by byron to get in the range 5000 to 6500k. It will be underneath a canopy ill be building so was looking at IP67 but doesn't seem to be as much of a range, was wondering if IP65 would do or just stick to IP67, probably best to stay on the side. Im not experienced in lights so ive not heard of that par rating, will have to look into that thanks
Uberhoust
Fish Herder
PAR is used by most commercial plant growers, officially it is a measure of the number of photons of Photosynthetically Active Radiation that is present with a light at various distances. You can even get an app to measure PAR, though I would question its accuracy (Photone "beta") is what I currently have. It is a bit confusing but the PAR rating is usually given in ppfd, or "photosynthetic photon flux density" with microMoles/meter^3/second, which describes how much usable light energy is available to the plant at a particular position in relation to the light.
PAR values I use (This is mostly personal experience others might have different points of view)
PAR values I use (This is mostly personal experience others might have different points of view)
- Typically given at 12" from light source (i.e. PAR at 12") the amount of light 12" below the fixture.
- 60 PAR would be a medium low intensity light suitable for some lower level light plants like Java Fern, some Vals or floaters might be ok with this because they are closer to the light, typically.
- 90 PAR would be good for medium light type plants, my Amazon Swords have done ok with light at this intensity
- 110 PAR pretty bright aquarium light, you can start to grow more difficult higher light plants here but it is a double edge sword because algae can start to be an issue. Aquarium lights can get brighter but they are typically more technical aquariums.
- 300-400 PAR, this is what I target for some of our orchids
- 600-800+ PAR this is what is targeted by medicinal oregano growers
Two comments from the foregoing.
You want a cover glass between the water surface and the light. I had glass cover sets over my largest tanks for years, they are not expensive. They sit down on the lip around the inside of the tank frame. The light fixture sits across the tank above the tank frame. Photos are of the smaller type. For 4-foot (120 cm) long tanks, I used a set that has four pieces of glass and three plastic runner guides. Inexpensive, practical. The plastic strip along the rear glass can be cut for filters and heaters.
As for spectrum, I would not go with red, green and blue individual diodes. I tried some of these and they did not do the job; they created red, green and blue distinct colour streaks down into the water, very odd and not good for fish. Fish eyes are highly sensitive to these three colours, quite unlike out eyes. You want pure white light that has a Kelvin around 6000K. Most seem to be 6500K, that is fine. If you can get a fixture with two rows of diodes in white, one 5000K and one 6500K, good. I've no idea if these are available. But I have seen white 6500K LED and it is very good light.
You want a cover glass between the water surface and the light. I had glass cover sets over my largest tanks for years, they are not expensive. They sit down on the lip around the inside of the tank frame. The light fixture sits across the tank above the tank frame. Photos are of the smaller type. For 4-foot (120 cm) long tanks, I used a set that has four pieces of glass and three plastic runner guides. Inexpensive, practical. The plastic strip along the rear glass can be cut for filters and heaters.
As for spectrum, I would not go with red, green and blue individual diodes. I tried some of these and they did not do the job; they created red, green and blue distinct colour streaks down into the water, very odd and not good for fish. Fish eyes are highly sensitive to these three colours, quite unlike out eyes. You want pure white light that has a Kelvin around 6000K. Most seem to be 6500K, that is fine. If you can get a fixture with two rows of diodes in white, one 5000K and one 6500K, good. I've no idea if these are available. But I have seen white 6500K LED and it is very good light.
Attachments
I can try and look for a glass lid but figured I wouldnt be able to find one to fit so was going to make one with lights underneath. I was going to go with rbg for the blue light as ive dosed the tank with methylene blue which made it really blue and they seemed to love it. Maybe it was just because it was a med but I thought it mightve been because it simulated a more shaded environment. Even my upside down catfish came out.
On the tank cover, just make sure you have glass between the light and the water surface.
As for the blue, the methylene blue is stressful to the fish, I am not surprised they reacted. As for blue light, this is not good. Plants cannot use it, but algae can. And freshwater fish have high sensitivity to blue as they do to red and green, when these are individual as I tried to explain previously. You want white light for the "day" period. A half-hour or hour of dawn and dusk with blue is OK.
The background data on light:
Didnt realise it was stressful, id only heard it was safe for fish. I was dosing them because after id cleared the ich, the gouramis looked like they'd had a little bit of fin rot so was just trying to clear that up, is there a better treatment? Im going to get dimmable lights for a transition period as ive already seen it be mentioned that its not good to go from absolute dark to light and vice versa. Ive also bought a plug timer to help. Set it to come on with a low light and increase later and then lower it towards the end of the day and then the timer will turn it off
...he previously had been indifferent
The safest and best treatment for almost anything is clean water. Healthy fish are normally able to deal with health issues, but stress is the direct reason for more than 90% of aquarium fish disease, so avoiding it is imperative. Clean water and minimal stress.
I often wonder just what manufacturers and other presumably well-meaning aquarists mean by "safe" for fish. As Nathan's observation in my signature block points out, the fact that fish remain alive is not the same as being healthy. Substances added to the tank water will be carried into the fish with the normal water, if those substances can diffuse across the cell membrane, and most of them can. Dissolved minerals in hard water, medications, chemicals, plant fertilizers sometimes...none of these are really good for the fish, depending upon the species and the substance.
I often wonder just what manufacturers and other presumably well-meaning aquarists mean by "safe" for fish. As Nathan's observation in my signature block points out, the fact that fish remain alive is not the same as being healthy. Substances added to the tank water will be carried into the fish with the normal water, if those substances can diffuse across the cell membrane, and most of them can. Dissolved minerals in hard water, medications, chemicals, plant fertilizers sometimes...none of these are really good for the fish, depending upon the species and the substance.
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