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Excited to be here!

DBoss

Seedling
Joined
18 Nov 2020
Messages
3
Location
Cochrane, Alberta Canada
A long time aquarium hobbyist (40 years) but it has been a number of years since I did a planted tank. The last decade I have been playing with large cichlid tanks, lots of drift wood. I currently have a 350 gallon set up and I am thinking of re-setting up a 90 gallon I have stored in a corner of the basement. I want to try to do a planted aquascape and found this site when searching for ideas. Thrilled to find so many wonderful and knowledgeable people to help me with my questions. The technology has come a long way since I had my last planted tank so this should be fun. I do have my old CO2 system but think I will upgrade my old lights. Any suggestions for lighting would be appreciated.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :),

Choosing lights is always tricky, having a planted tank in the basement does have its advantages as the aesthetics of the light unit isn't so critical IMO. Many LED lights have adjustable light intensity which allows to to turn down the light output without adjusting the lights height, LEDs are cheaper to run also. Some of the best LED lights are very expensive eg ADA Solar RGB but stunning colour spectrum. Twinstars are pretty good also, Chihiros LED IMO offer the 'biggest bang per buck' as they clone them from the more expensive brands so well worth a look at.
Choosing the colour spectrum is down to users preference and well worth a good read on.

Their are various units on the market for controlling the output of LED lights and most are relatively cheap or come with the unit. The best light IMO is the ADA solar RGB which comes with No intensity control or is there an after market one that I am aware off.

Hope it helps
 
Its largely down to preference. Do you like shimmer, or do you like reds and greens to really pop out? And how much are you willing to spend :)
I am wrestling with a similar question, because whilst I love good colour rendition on red plants, which twinstar and chihiros and ADA lights give, I also love the shimmer effect that lights like Kessil, aqua medic Qube and Prime HD have. I've also read good things about the ONF one, but that one is too small for my 120cm tank and too expensive to get 2 smaller ones. Then there are new players on the block, like the Skylight hyperspot which looks stunning and is available in a few days, but other then some amazing pictures by pro's I've no idea how it actually performs, but it looks as though it combines the shimmer and has good reds. But all the tanks I see with it have a lot of green algae, so maybe its too bright? It makes me hesitate either way. Tbh I'd go for chihiros if I could find somewhere that stocks it in my size. I dont want to buy off ebay because of complicated warranty, and amazon only seems to have the 90cm version or smaller. If I cant find it anytime soon, I'll likely go for a twinstar S and add a single Qube or other shimmerlight for nighttime viewing. Or the hyperspot...
 
Thanks for the info. LED seems to provide a lot of options and I like the lower energy consumption. I will take a look at the suggestions and do some homework.
 
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