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Lighting for 60x45x30 Optiwhite

Richard Dowling

Richard Dowling

Member
Joined
6 Nov 2010
Messages
417
Location
Kings Hill, Kent
Hi All,

I will shortly be buying a 60x45x30 optiwhite and need some ideas for lighting.

Unfortunately I dont have the means of suspending it from above so I think I'll need one that clips on the side.

I dont really know what wattages to go for and what sort of unit to choose. Given the fairly shallow depth of the tank I dont want to go overboard. Can anyone give me some advice? Ive been looking at Charterhouse Aquatics and have found that a lot of the 600mm units are low wattage (2 x 15w), I was thinking maybe an Arcadia Luminaire 4 x 24w 600mm??
 
Yeah I agree. All pond solutions have excellent affordable lighting kits with a big range of products. Also very fast delivery too.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
 
Fantastic, Thanks Joe, I hadnt considered them. The Prices and choices are very good.

In which case, do you think 48W (2X24W) will be enough? I had calculated I may need roughly 50 Watts to get around 2w per gallon. If that sounds about right I think im sorted!

Im hoping to make this my first respectable attempt at an aquascape so I wanted to make sure I get the lighting right. Ive always been let down by my equipment in the past.
 
Im asuming you will be running co2.... 2 X 24W will be more than enough to grow any plant you choose (especially in a shallow tank). You could get the 4 x 24w as long as it has two power leads but its unlikely you will end up using the other 2 tubes if the light cant be suspended higher. Forget WPG, plants like lots of co2 not lots of light, unlike algae which will likely thrive with all 4 tubes running while your learning.
:thumbup:
 
jack-rythm said:
Yeah I agree. All pond solutions have excellent affordable lighting kits with a big range of products. Also very fast delivery too.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

I'm a huge All Pond Solutions fan- I've got one of their tanks, and use a lot of their stuff in it too, so would deffo vouch for them!

dowheim I'd love to see some pics of the tank when you get it all set up :)
 
Are you dead set on the APS solution ? TMC do a great range of tiles and also a very smart twin ended bracket that the tiles can fit onto. I believe Whitey89 has one such set up so check out his journals or ask him nicely to put up a pic :) IMO LED's (ones which are controllable) give you much more flexibility.
 
Im not dead set on anything yet, Im hoping to get a setup from scratch that fits my needs. I cant really justify hundreds on just a lighting unit but if thats what is necessary then thats what I'll do.

At this stage im trying to gain advice on what works so I can get it all right when I come round to buying :)

Thanks I will contact him about his TMC unit
 
For your size tank you could use a 1000ND tile and it would be more than enough. You can get them retail for about £180. Thats a lot of money I realise, but you can get them second hand. I have just sold two of them for a very fair price. But to be honest I think you would get away with one or two mini400's and you can buy them for £50 each new. The advantage with TMC LED units is that you can control them. By this I mean you can have sunrise and sunset periods which not only looks good but the fish much prefer it to the lights suddenly flooding the tank with light. Also you can limit the output to whatever percentage you like, as well as having them on at 1% to simulate moonlight. Once you go LED you will love them. But you are doing the right thing and listening to various options.
 
What is the general method of knowing if an LED is suitable for any given tank size? Watts mean something to me and I can have an idea of what is good enough but with LED's I dont have a clue what is good and what isnt.

Ive just had a look on youtube for some examples of 1000nd tanks and George Farmer has 2 of them suspended from above which has fantastic light coverage! Just one of them doesnt seem to cover the entire substrate with light as well as his one. I will wait for Whitey89's feedback on his though. Judging by your comment above im wondering whether going for 2 400's over the single 1000 would be better in terms of even coverage?!

This is starting to be a bit of a headache making this choice :?
 
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