Help with New lighting for a vision 260

[Gemma]

Good evening,

Can anyone give me some advice for a confused person. It has been suggested that I might buy a new T5 lighting sytem for my new juwel as the old system was knackered ( think someone must have run over it with a tank when they weren't looking....).

I bought the tank the other day and am starting fresh with no knowledge of growing plants. I have bred angels for years but that got pretty boring.

I have been given some help and useful books and to begin with will have to try and grow very sturdy plants that can survive without extra CO2 due to the finances.

Below is the unit advertised on the Juwel website. It cost £75 without the bulbs. I have already sussed out that I can get cheaper bulbs from Lampspecs but can't find any 54 watt ones on there - am I looking in the wrong place?

High-Lite Light Unit 120cm 2x 54 watt
NEW GENERATION OF LIGHT UNIT ***
Suitable for Rio 240, Rio 300, Vision 260, Panorama 200.

Will this system surfice or do you think I should go for something else.

Gemma

 

[aaronnorth]

Welcome to UKAPS ,

Dont go there, you are paying for the name just because it is built specifically for your tank, have a look around, you can buy ballasts for 54w tubes cheap compared to that, check out this link, they have loads of lighting units:

http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue/lighting.asp

and here are your T5 tubes at lampspecs:

http://www.lampspecs.co.uk/Light-Bulbs- ... 8Ta38Nb3b0

check out this thread, it is all about the tubes available from them:

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=555

 

[Gemma]

Thank you for this (and the welcome) I will have a mooch around.

Gem

 

[Gemma]

Now I am going to show my ignorance and probably embarrass myself at the same time.

If I buy a lighting unit for a 48" tank - are the bulbs I purchase also 48" or do I have to get shorter ones because they fit inside the perimeter of the tank. :?

 

[aaronnorth]

Now I am going to show my ignorance and probably embarrass myself at the same time.

If I buy a lighting unit for a 48" tank - are the bulbs I purchase also 48" or do I have to get shorter ones because they fit inside the perimeter of the tank. :?

they will be slightly shorter but you will know when you get it, the tubes are standard sizes.

you can get a double lighting unit 48" ( 2 x 40w ) convertagar for £20 from here (the hagen glomat)

http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalo ... -units.asp

Just remember, you want it to be a bit shorter otherwise it wont fit under the hood! Unless you are planning it on top?