This Any Good?

[Fishy_7]

I am looking for a new hood with lighting for my tank. One that gives off good light for plant growth. I am already looking into the Arcadia Luminaire and just been made aware of these:

CLICKY

Thanks.

 

[dylema]

Do you mean T5? The light in the link has 4 T5's which are better wattage for their size than T8's. T8's are the normal larger diameter fluoros that you find in shops/offices etc. I would be quite happy with 4 T5's on a 4' you can get good spectrum lights. say you have a 60g tank (I don't know how big yours is) thats about 2.5w/g which is pretty reasonable. If that fitting supports the high output (HO) tubes that would bump it up to over 3w/g which is good I believe. Check on the wattage of the ballast for the light if you want to run HO tubes.

Dylan

I could have sworn you asked about T8's sorry if you didn't.

 

[Fishy_7]

Do you mean T5? The light in the link has 4 T5's which are better wattage for their size than T8's. T8's are the normal larger diameter fluoros that you find in shops/offices etc. I would be quite happy with 4 T5's on a 4' you can get good spectrum lights. say you have a 60g tank (I don't know how big yours is) thats about 2.5w/g which is pretty reasonable. If that fitting supports the high output (HO) tubes that would bump it up to over 3w/g which is good I believe. Check on the wattage of the ballast for the light if you want to run HO tubes.

Dylan

I could have sworn you asked about T8's sorry if you didn't.

Thanks, I got confused! It is a T5 unit but for some reason, I thought it was a T8

Thanks for your information, my tank is 47 gal, so I think its total output will be 156 watts (over 3wpg) is adequate. I just don't know what sort of tubes come with that unit. As the supplier is in Germany, I am hoping that lengths of the tubes are all standard and I can get replacements here.

Thanks.

 

[dylema]

I think you should be fine with the tubes. My LFS stocks a range of T5 tubes in different temperatures and lengths. The ones supplied in that unit are 14000 K so thats really a high number ie wide spectrum. it should be fine for the plants but you may want to change to a couple of 6500K and/or 10000K tubes in the future. I would ask about the specifics of spectrum in the plant section as I only know a little.

Dylan

 

[Fishy_7]

I think you should be fine with the tubes. My LFS stocks a range of T5 tubes in different temperatures and lengths. The ones supplied in that unit are 14000 K so thats really a high number ie wide spectrum. it should be fine for the plants but you may want to change to a couple of 6500K and/or 10000K tubes in the future. I would ask about the specifics of spectrum in the plant section as I only know a little.

Dylan

I am just hoping they are standard lengths (i.e.) unit is 48" long, so tubes are usually 46" long. But judging by the wattage, they are 34" tubes.

Thanks for your input Dylan, will see how I get on

 

[dylema]

I belive that T5's come in two wattages in each length. The HO ones would be 39 watts for a 3' tube so maybe the non HO ones would be 39 watts for a 4'tube. Just a thought. I guess you can ask the seller to clarify this for you.

Good luck, it looks like a pretty neat unit.

Dylan

 

[Fishy_7]

I belive that T5's come in two wattages in each length. The HO ones would be 39 watts for a 3' tube so maybe the non HO ones would be 39 watts for a 4'tube. Just a thought. I guess you can ask the seller to clarify this for you.

Good luck, it looks like a pretty neat unit.

Dylan

Yeah - questioned the seller, who is being vague

 

[Dave Spencer]

Fishy, I have just come across this thread and thought I might add some comments.

I work out the light level to be around 3.3WPG. That is a huge amount of light for a tank this size and should be avoided, unless you are committed to a 75% planted tank with pressurised CO2 and a fertiliser regime. I run a 120l tank at 3.4 WPG and it is high maintenance. With this level of light algae is very unforgiving. If you are not interested in a high maintenance planted tank keep the light well below 2WPG.

The 14000k spectrum is too blue for a planted tank, you want to be looking for something around 6500k. I bought a 3 x 24W luminaire from EQJ, but I replaced the tubes with something more appropriate for freshwater ie Arcadia, Interpet, D&D etc.

Dave.