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arcadia luminaire lighting

John Starkey

Member
Joined
8 Jul 2007
Messages
1,599
Location
worcester
Hi all,i am in the planning stages of my next setup which i plan to be my competition tank so it will get rescaped quite regularly (at least twice a year).Tank will be opti-white and dimensions will be 60x30x45,volume is 105trs/23galls probable volume 95ltrs/21galls, what i am unsure of is lighting, i would need something to grow plants quickly but i dont want to overdo the watts per gallon thing,could i get the same results or decent results with the arcadia luminaire with two 24w T5 plant pros or would you suggest i go with the four 24w unit the second unit being over 4 watts per gall and i have never had such high lighting before,your suggestions would be welcome,regards john
 
Hi John

From experience I can say that you'll be fine with 2 x 24w HO T5 for most plants, especially with good CO2 and other nutrients.

However, it is handy to have 4 x 24w HO T5, just in case you have some particularly demanding plants, especially if they are low to the substrate (and further from the light). Also it is better to have this much light for photography (if not using flash), something worth considering when entering contests.

The beauty of the Arcadia 60cm 4 x 24w HO T5 luminaire, is that the two sets of two tubes have their own power supply, so if desired you can run the popular midday burst photoperiod using two seperate plug-in-timers i.e. 3 hours 2 tubes - 3 hours 4 tubes - 3 hours 2 tubes.

Personally I run 2 tubes for just 8 hours over my 60cm opti-white, but it's 35cm high, not 45cm. I run 4 tubes for photography.

I hope that helps and good luck mate.
 
Hi there, I have roughly the same size tank but opted for 2 interpet 55w compacts as i thought the luminare was a bit pricey. So my Q is will my lights be a bit of an overkill for most plants.
P.s. sorry to hijak your thread :)
 
Hi George, as usual i didnt give it the thought it deserved,now you have mentioned it i think the mid-day burst thing and the option of extra lighting if i need it maybe the four 24w unit is the way to go thanks,take care john.
 
cichlidsrgr8 said:
Hi there, I have roughly the same size tank but opted for 2 interpet 55w compacts as i thought the luminare was a bit pricey. So my Q is will my lights be a bit of an overkill for most plants.
P.s. sorry to hijak your thread :)

Hi there, i already use an arcadia luminaire in my 5x2x2 setup it has four 54w T5 plant pros,this gives me just over 2watts per gall and i ahve grown anything so far including glosso so i think you should be able to grow most plants as long as you have good reflectors,regards john
 
cichlidsrgr8 said:
Hi there, I have roughly the same size tank but opted for 2 interpet 55w compacts as i thought the luminare was a bit pricey. So my Q is will my lights be a bit of an overkill for most plants.
P.s. sorry to hijak your thread :)

Yes, that's more light than you'll likely ever need and you'd need super CO2 and nutrients to minimise algae risk.

Running a single 55w should be fine, especially with a good reflector (hard to find a PC reflector, let me know if you do though!)
 
Thanks for your advice. I'm thinking of making my own reflector out of a sheet of polished aluminium as i cant find reflectors for interpet compact tubes anywhere. Thanks again.
 
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