Arcadia Stretch vs TMC Aquabar

[Robert Moon]

Hi All,
I am just about to do a rebuild on my Vicenza 260, and would like to up the lighting. It came with 2x39W T5HO, which I have managed to get reasonable plant growth from, but I would really like to increase so I can try some carpeting plants other than crypts and Sagittaria. I think I want to try dwarf hairgrass, tank is quite deep so this may be pushing it but I want to give it a go. I have CO2 but I don't dose as my London tap water is already pretty high nitrate/phosp (about 15ppm!).

Ideally I want something slim line so it can fit in the existing canopy lid and I would use it in addition to the 2 T5's. From reading around, I have come up with a few options in my price range (and that have been mentioned elsewhere on the forum), but wanted to get the opinion on which would be best value.
I think I would like to keep the costs around the magical £100 mark so here is the ones I was thinking of:
Wavepoint 36 Daylight 10K Led
TMC AquaBar Freshwater LED
Arcadia Classica Stretch Freshwater LED Lighting

If anyone knows the width and depth of any of these lights it would also be handy, so I can know how easy they would fit under my hood (they all seem to only detail the length).

I have my tank and lifestock details below.
Thanks in advance for your help.
All the best,
Rob.

Tank details
Vicenza 260 (260 litre Bow fronted aquarium)

Aquarium dimensions: 121 x 46 x 64cm (bow fronted)
Filter 1:
Eheim 2076 professional 3e 450
Filter 2:
Eheim 2324 professional thermofilter
CO2 system- cheap JBL 500G canister system
Lighting:
2x 39W T5HO
Substrate: ADA Aqusoil Amazonia with powersand (now with more powersand on top than underneath....)

Lifestock (all fully grown)
Over the years it has become a bit eclectic, the underpopulated species are generally the veteran survivors (e.g. the pygmies and khuli loach etc. )
5 denizon barbs
8 Sterbai Cory
5 Bronze Cory
Pair of Kribensis
4 Otocinclus
1 Khuli Loach (had him for 7 years saw him about twice in that time)
5 Amano Shrimp
4 Platys + ~10 fry
1 Bolivian Ram
2 Pigmy Corys

 

[sanj]

You should be able to grow hair grass with the lighting you have, but if you really want to add this additional lighting then I can only say that from my experiance of the Arcadia stretch is that its colour rendition is slightly on the pinkish side which is ok if you like it. I have a smaller model over a 30"x12"x15"h breeding tank and PAR levels are only around 20 at the base.

 

[Robert Moon]

Thanks Sanj,
I previously tried dwarf hairgrass, as well as glossostigma, and the hairgrass didn't really do much. The glossostigma lasted much longer, but still didn't carpet nicely. The lighting is on the low side at 78W for 260 litres, and it is quite a deep tank (64cm) so I think it should benefit from a boost.
Thanks for the info on the stretch. My T5HO are already a little pink, so that's definitely worth knowing.

 

[mr. luke]

If this is of interest to anyone i have purchased 1 of each unit today (aquabar + stretch) so i will post up some photos/ mini review tomorrow