Two small lights or one big?

[belveder69]

G'day, I just bought a five foot tank but it didn't have lights. I already had 2 Hygger 3 foot lights but the ttank never seems bright enough. So, I'm wondering if a five foot light would be straonger and better?

Any help appreciated please

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What brand of lights do you have and what is their wattage and Kelvin (K) rating? If you have a link to them it would help.

Did you want lots of plants in the tank?
What fish did you want to keep?

 

[belveder69]

Oops I forgot the tank dimensions, 153cm x 50cm x 50cm. The lights I have currently are 2 x Hygger 3 foot lights "

• PRODUCT PARAMETERS: ①Power:36W; ②Led QTY:153PCS(White:73PCS/BLUE:31PCS/ RED:11PCS/GREE:6PCS/ RGB:32PCS); ③CRI:85; ④Application(for Fish Tnak Long):36”-42” ; ⑥Power Cord: 5.9ft+2.3ft; ⑦Input Votage:AC100-240V; ⑧Output VotageC20V; ⑨Kelvin: White 6500K, Blue 455nm, Red 620nm, Green 560nm; ⑩Lumens:2778"

I had desires for a planted tank but everything seems to die except for floating plants and houseplants. The occupants are mainly different types of rainbow fish and a breeding pair of Electric Blue Acara

 

[MaloK]

I think you are just under the minimum to keep easy plants. And it's probably why you find the tank under illuminated.

At the moment you are around 14 lumens per liter, it's recommended to have from 20 to 50 depending on the plants requirement.

At 5556 lumens for your 382 liter tank you are just a little under and would need between 5700 to 19000 lumens.

At least 30 lumens per liter (11500 Lumens) or about double what you have, for something able to grow a wide variety of plants.

 

[jaylach]

I think you are just under the minimum to keep easy plants. And it's probably why you find the tank under illuminated.

At the moment you are around 14 lumens per liter, it's recommended to have from 20 to 50 depending on the plants requirement.

At 5556 lumens for your 382 liter tank you are just a little under and would need between 5700 to 19000 lumens.

At least 30 lumens per liter (11500 Lumens) or about double what you have, for something able to grow a wide variety of plants.

Great advice and info!

As is pretty well known to regulars here I'm just a little bit extreme 'old school'. LOL! I even still use under gravel filtration. While I am quite happy using LED lighting part of me still misses full spectrum florescent tubes.