Which Lighting ?

[kiriyama]

Hi, hopefully by the end of the week I will know for definate which tank size to go for, I want to get lights fitted to it prior to purchase. Have seen the Arcadia led lights and am interested but know nothing about them.
Was wondering if anyone here has them fitted to there tank ? If so, are they any good ?
Tank will either be 72"x24"x24" or 72"x18"x18" , will hold Tropheus and probably Gobies so looking to grow some algae on the rocks....

Any thoughts/feedback/advice greatly appreciated, cheers, Sean

 

[mattlee]

im in the same boat....

ive seen the arcadia LED lights on display tanks and they look stunning and really show off the fishes colours but they only make them certain lengths, the longest being 1147mm at £105 each.
my tank is 5ft so this will leave 15 inches of tank unlit so im not sure how it will look

i am toying about having 2 of these and overlaping them in the middle slightly so most of the tank will be lit but more concentrated light being in the middle but again have no idea how it will look and its an expensive experiment...

the only other way would be to get 2 shorter ones at 2ft 3 inches but the cost would be £150 for the 2...... and im not sure if 2 would be enough to light front and back of the tank but to buy 4 is £300

ive also been told that they are more directional than tubes as the light is directed down rather than all around like a T8 or T5 tube are.

 

[OldMan47]

As with any innovation, someone must go first. You may find that you do or do not like the results of using the LED approach. The efficiency of LED lighting is encouraging to me but I have yet to spend the money to find out if those theoretical efficiencies work out for me in my own fish tanks. If you decide to go with the LEDs, please let the rest of us know about your experiences so that we will have some basis for our own decisions.

 

[kiriyama]

Hi, tank will be 72" long, if it was bright in the middle and shaded/shadowy at the sides I suppose it might give a shimmering effect with the ripples on the water
Price wise it;s a bit sore compared to a double controller and a couple of tubes
Only other thing I could think of was getting one led tube and seeing how it looked and then add another one at a later date , not so much outlay in one go, maybe it will be myself that takes the first step...
I emailed the company that's going to put the tank together with some questions about some other stuff... here's the quote on lighting......

"You could use two Tropical 1147mm LED's but they will be quite short for a tank this size. Thety are £101.95 each. Or you can use four shorter LED's, 687mm, that will cover the entier length of tank - cost £65.05 each.[/i]"

 

[mattlee]

that is what i was considering. just to buy and see how it looked as my tank currently only has 1 tube on as i like the dimmer look to it and i have a few nocturnal fish, bgk and catfish so they prefer it too.

im just not convinced you will benefit from the effects they give just using 1 LED tube

my tank is due to arrive on may 11th so i have a few weeks to decide yet...

also using 4 smaller lights means 4 plug sockets just for lights