What is your preference on the length of your tank lights?

[Supertoast]

Hey y'all,

Ive been playing around with lighting and figured I'd see how the community tends to do it!

I have a 48'' LED light on my 4ft 75 gallon African cichlid tank with a black background and black substrate, but I've been wondering if a nice 30''-36'' (say the Fluval planted 3.0) might look better giving the corners some shadow. What kind of lights do y'all go with on your setups? Do you like super bright or modest lighting?

 

[Phreaker]

My LED is the entire length of my tank.

 

[seangee]

I try to go with what the fish would expect in nature. Most of my fish are forest fish so they have fairly dim lighting with plenty of shade.
I would expect rift lake cichlids to prefer brighter lighting (than mine) but may be mistaken as I have never kept or researched these.

 

[Guyb93]

I use a 3ft on my 5ft tank centred so the there is shaded areas on either end .. not gonna lie only did this because the 3ft was a lot cheaper than the 5ft lol

 

[Ch4rlie]

I've always tried to go for lighting that covers the whole tank footprint, I tend to go for lights that are one rung up from the standard set ups as I like to have good plant growth and a little more light to showcase the plants and livestock a bit more.

One thing that I usually do is add floating plants or long leaved plants that has leaves floating and trailing along the water surface as this adds shade and provides dimmer areas should the fish want to have a little more shade or security, especially useful if you have skittish species of fish.

A formula that works well for me anyhow.

Would not go for bright intense lights if you are at all unsure, as this can create more problems than good unless you are having a densely planted tank with ferts and co2 etc.

Too bright or too much light can cause some issues especially with algae and if you also have bright substrate this can stress fish as you have to remember that fish do not have eyelids and having bright lights and bouncing off bright substrate will certainly add stress.

If this is the case then a lower wattage light would be better all round and you can take things going forwards from there.

 

[AbbeysDad]

There are many variables when it comes to lighting. Fish can manage in very dim lighting to near darkness, but we want good viewing, plants, and other tank life to be treated fairly. Light intensity, photo period, tank depth, all come into play.
To the specific question, I would use a light the size of the tank with a sufficient intensity and duration to support plants. I would use fast growing floating plants for water purification and algae control as well as provide shade and cover for the fish.
In my 60g planted display tank (avitar), I'm using a 48" Finnex Planted Plus 24/7 in 24/7 mode on a timer from 7am until midnight (as fish need a period of total darkness).
On a few bare bottom grow out tanks (10g/20g/29g), I merely use an 18" fluorescent light. The 37g has LED's and the 110g stock tank has two 4 foot LED shop lights. These lights are all on for about 12 hours...and all have an abundance of floating water sprite.
Bottom line is you want enough light to be able to nicely view the fish and support the plants and aquatic life. Unless your plan is high tech (bright light, CO2, and lots of ferts) there is admitedly a lot of 'wiggle room' in lighting.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I have LED in all of mine. For fish that prefer shade, I keep floating plants at the top.