Complete beginner guide to setting up a planted tank light?

Hello everyone! I have kept fish in the hobby for a couple of years now but have never tried live plants. I would love to start transitioning my 55 gallon tank from artificially planted to live planted.

To be completely honest I need a little help figuring out how to set up a light that is good for plants on my tank. I am a complete newbie so please forgive my very basic questions. Right now my 55 gallon is just a starter kit tank, therefore it just has your regular run of the mill black plastic lid with the LED strips underneath. I see most aquarium lighting systems actually clip on the sides of the tank and hover over the opening, so I imagine I also need to replace my lid as well. What type of lid goes with these lights? My 55 gallon is the standard size with one support beam down the center. Also, is the light supposed to shine through a clear lid or is there supposed to be an opening in the tank lid where light shines through unobstructed? I honestly cannot find a whole lot of information on this and it seems everyone has their lights set up a little differently.
Also, what light recommendations would you have? Money isn’t a huge deciding factor as long as it’s not like a $500+ light, I love the hobby and everything I get for my aquariums I always try to just shoot for quality right away. I’d rather have features I won’t use right away but will eventually use as I learn more about plants than have to buy a new light.

sorry, I know this is a ton of questions in one post. I appreciate your help very very much!

 

We use glass canopies on all our aquariums. Most (but not all) of our plant lights are
Search results for: 'finnex planted 24/7' - AquaCave.com We have the CC model. Got them several years ago.

This 55 has the 48" Finnex. I can show you photos of other planted aquariums with this light if you like.

 

Some people go without a top, but if you have fish prone to jumping you need a top. The most common are the hinged glass top lids. If you search online you'll find them from various manufacturers. For a standard 55 with center brace you would get 2 24×12 lids. Most have a removable plastic strip on the back where you can make cutouts for filters, cords, etc.

You'll get a lot of opinions on lighting. The things to look for to me are:

- Lights with built in timers/cycles
- Lights with full spectrum available for plants
- You'll probably enjoy lights that can be customized to different colors at different times.

How powerful of a light you need kind of depends on your plants, whether you inject CO2, etc. The more powerful light, the more you need the other things like CO2, fertilizer, etc. This is why the customizable lights are nice. You can adjust them to your needs.

I have the Finnex 24/7 CRV CC light. I love it and the default 24/7 cycle works great for me (injected CO2 and Thrive fertilizer). But it's also very customizable so you can run it on a cycle with custom settings too. It's by no means the only choice, but I like mine. I'm sure others will give recommendations as well.

 

I got a Fluval Plant 3 based on recommendations. It's got all kinds of features I haven't figured out how to use, you can adjust it in a lot of ways.

My light is smarter than me. There are a lot of youtube vids where people show off their lights.

 

Yes lots of lighting options. Since your just starting with plants start with what works not the most expensive. Start with easy plants. I light that I find works great and is very affordable is the hyggar 957. This is a full spectrum adjustable light. The 48” one will cost you around $100.
What type of substrate are you using now? Again because your new to plants I don’t suggest any planted substrates. Grow plants first with what you have. See if it’s what you want. Than on your next tank you can start experimenting. I’ve been growing live plants since the 80s and have only once used a planted substrate never co2. The substrate eco-complete was removed after a year. Nothing grew!!

 

There are so many options out there. The standard 55gl offers Aqueon glass tops. I myself have a Finnex 24/7 HLC light that spans the tank, and I love it. The brackets on the rimmed tank can be moved easily, but don't slide out of the guides.
Like said above, the light is smarter than me....the remote control is a bit tricky to figure out.
But the light is fantastic in my low tech tank.

 

My 55 gallon came with 2 24 inch florescent lights. I suspect yours is basically the same.The lights were built into a plastic housing that sat on top of the glass section of the hood. Now I have a 48 inch led light that sits over the glass section of the hood. In the summer I remove the hood.but leave the light. I have the VivaGrow 24/7 led light. It is a very inexpensive light but is serving me well. If I am remembering correctly I paid a bit less than $50.00 for it a couple of years ago. The price like everything else has gone up now.

I have plants that don't demand a lot of light such as Crypts and various Java Ferns. One thing you may want to do is make sure all snails and their eggs are removed from the plants before you plant them in your tank unless you don't mind being over run with them. I wasn't warned and didn't think about this possibility until I discovered ramshorn snails, lots and lots of ramshorn snails in my tank.

 

My 55 gallon came with 2 24 inch florescent lights. I suspect yours is basically the same.The lights were built into a plastic housing that sat on top of the glass section of the hood. Now I have a 48 inch led light that sits over the glass section of the hood. In the summer I remove the hood.but leave the light. I have the VivaGrow 24/7 led light. It is a very inexpensive light but is serving me well. If I am remembering correctly I paid a bit less than $50.00 for it a couple of years ago. The price like everything else has gone up now.

I have plants that don't demand a lot of light such as Crypts and various Java Ferns. One thing you may want to do is make sure all snails and their eggs are removed from the plants before you plant them in your tank unless you don't mind being over run with them. I wasn't warned and didn't think about this possibility until I discovered ramshorn snails, lots and lots of ramshorn snails in my tank.

I forgot about the snails...

 

For most planted tanks any RGB LED unit will do. It is best to choose a unit that is somewhat overpowered in terms of Lumen and has LEDs that are "dimmable".

In addition to the LED unit, use a time-controlled dimmer to control the Lumen (depending on e.g. the height of your tank, your personal preferences, the maturity of your plants, the prevention/correction of algae, and optionally vary the Lumen depending on time of day (e.g. very dim during evening hrs)).

Around 8-10 Lumen per gallon will do for most planted tanks... and then dim the lights/Lumen with the controller.

I use Twister B-line units for my tanks, each with a separate controller.