Looking on thoughts on my new lighting

Holly

So a friend of mine found a 55g at a thrift store and knew my light was blown. They were only asking $40 for the tank, hood and heavy wood stand. she brings the lid home to me and turns out it's a Custom Sea Life power compact 120v, 2 lamp with a fan. It takes 2 130w, 44 inch bulbs. I've always had flourecent lights so this is new to me.

How much is this lid going to heat up my tank? I have tropical fish so it's not a big deal if it does, I'll just get rid of my heater! Since I have no experience with these, tell me what you think? I know how expensive they are since I always wanted one for my planted tank. What do I need to watch out for?

aquakid

Not that much

Holly

OMG..I just got the light bulbs and it actually takes 4 double, 4 pin, 130w bulbs!!!! Can we all say LET THERE BE LIGHT?!

whitedevil

Awesome find, I love thrift shop treasures.

Byron

Rather than heat, your problem is going to be the excessive light. 520 watts of light over a 50g is way too much; the plants will burn themselves out (literally), algae will take over, and the fish will proably not fare well in such brightness.

Jolly Jerry

The light I have does not seem to be helping my plants grow. I need your help in buying a good light system for my tank. I really like the blue light, I think this represents moon light. I will have to order it on line, My local fish stores dont have a lot to choose from. Any info you can send my way would be helpful.

Thanks,
Jerry

Byron

The best light for a planted aquarium is full spectrum fluorescent. This is not only my personal experience, it is what every plant authority I have read says, so I take it as good advice. Plants use light in the blue part of the spectrum and also red, but adding the green/yellow (as in full spectrum) gives the aquascape a natural look and the plant and fish colours are realistic.

Without CO2 added, 1-2 watts of full spectrum lighting per gallon is adequate for most rooted plants and even a few stem (bunch) plants. At higher levels of light, say 4+ watts per gallon, you usually require CO2 added to balance the higher light, otherwise the plants can't use it and algae will. The photos of my two aquaria show what's possible with the above, no CO2, and twice weekly liquid fertilization to supply trace elements. The fish provide the necessary CO2 in these setups.

Holly

I'm only using 2 of the possible 4 bulbs so 260w total. If I ever change to a reef tank, I'll pick up some more bulbs but for my fw tank I think the 2 bulbs are fine. Half of one is blue ascentic (sp?) since I wanted it to pick up the colors in my Turquoise Rainbow Fish better, which OMG are so pretty now!!!

Byron

Holly, I think you are going to have algae problems with this much light. Even 260 watts on a 50g tank is excessive, depending upon how long the light is on during each day of course. If you've followed the other threads in the plant section of this forum you'll have read about recent problems with algae that a couple of aquarists have had, and we've exchanged some good info back and forth, so I won't go into all that again.

You can find freshwater tubes that will accent blue but not be as overwhelming as the actinic [I think this is the term, not sure myself but it's something similar] tube which I believe is intended for marine tanks where this is essential for corals or algae or something, not sure as I'm not a marine aquarist.

You also have to consider the strength of light your fish must live with; we've had posts in other threads about fish responding to bright light by being more stressed and all that can occur from that. Just a thought for you. All of us on here want you to succeed--and be happy with your aquarium.

Byron.

iamntbatman

Geez, that's just ridiculous! If I were in your position, I would sell that thing on our Aquarium Classifieds to a serious reefkeeper and buy yourself a really nice light that won't result in tons of algae growth.