Good lightning?

[bojosatoru]

I’ve been having some trouble getting my hands on some good lighting for my 40 gal standard breeder. Do you all have any recommendations? Where do you go to find your lights? I was going to mainly have Anubias all throughout my tank and maybe add some Hydrocotyle tripartita and frogbit too if they work together.

 

[3Fishnight]

I have a fluval plant 3.0 at the moment on my main tank. Works really well. Cheaper option and likely just as good (imo) is the chihiros b series. They are on sale right now on the chihiros website. Get yourself one. That light will grow your plants really well. And its like 45-80$ rn. It is dimmable on their app. I would get a raised bar/stand (not sire if it comes with one) for it too, so you can get a good light spread and grow houseplants out your tank easier. You cant really beat that light for the price. Dont even mess with the hyggars and nicrews trust me. You could take a look at twinstar lights too. Im not sure about their cheaper options. If i was a kid/man without a light and on a budget im going chihiros b series.

 

[tinylostwine]

hyggar 957 is probably fine for your needs. It would be around $60 in usa (but buy it soon as price might double with tariff); it is a pain to program but it works - i have one on my 20 long.

My goto light used to be fluval plant 3.0 but it will be 4x at $210; these days i prefer ai blade but they 36 inch is not their sweet spot and they are a few dollars more than the plant 3.0.

Honestly i would use the hygger or one of the similar lights in the $60-$80 range for at least a few years until you have a need for something more expensive.

https://amazon.com/Aquarium-Extendable-Dimmable-Spectrum-Freshwater/dp/B077YWKZ1D/

hygger has different models and mostly have to do with power and pain to program.

The chihiros b mentioned above can be found here:
Chihiros B Series LED Light - Chihiros Aquatic Studio

You would need the 90cm model which is 36 inch. I've not used that model so no comment (i've used their wrgb series - they require a smart phone to program)

I haven't used the b series so i won't comment on them first hand. I don't love the hygger but it is very inexpensive; the spectrum is fine and once programmed it remembers the program; i just have to reset the time on power outage. I've only had it 1.5 years so can't comment on durability but it is ip97 (splash proof).

Most of these inexpensive devices have a weakness in the power supply which are usually cheap to replace but i've not tested this comment.

For the plant 3.0 i have several that are 5 year old and i've had them fall into the tank on occasion and they keep on ticking.

The ai blade i mentioned above is a newer device and my oldest is 2 years old.

I do have a 4 year old cichiros wrgb 2 and that is a product i do not recommend due to the visible spectrum (they have improved with the pro ii which adds a more neutral look with white leds and the b model is probably pretty good i just haven't used it so no first hand comment).

I'm not trying to push these devices i'm just commenting on the models i've used.

I picked up a b45 (for 10 gallon aquarium) for fun and in a month or so i will be able to comment on it BUT i would not wait that long to buy a light - as there might be a very serious price increase soon.

I did check the B model reviews and it seems ok; just a little more expensive than the hygger. The only light i know that does not require manual reset of the time on power outage is the ai blade but that is a much more expensive model.

 

[tinylostwine]

So the Chirios b45 came today and i setup it up a few quick comments:
the spectrum was pleasing and not dissimilar from the default for ai blade freshwater
with the chirios you can only change the intensity (this is different than the more expensive wrgb2 where you can set the intensity of each led colour; creating your own temperature); i also picked up the shade but they were not required (but they were cheap); the item did ship from china but (at least so far) i did not have to pay customs or tariff which is a bit confusing - it went through customs saturday before the deal. The light is not bad - about the same as the hygger (not sure if it is stronger or weaker) and the same wattage but not sure about par values.

Obviously i can't comment about longevity or reliability.

 

[RayClem]

I have a 40 gallon breeder. I have a Hygger 957 light on the tank. I use the 60 watt model that ranges from 36" to 42" in length using extendable brackets. You could use the 48 watt model which ranges from 30-36". However, since the difference in price is only $6, I recommend the 60 watt unit. Due to the breadth of the tank front to back, the 60 watt light provides better coverage.

Remember that the Hygger 957 is fully programmable in color, brightness and timing. Thus, you can adjust the lighting to fit your needs. I purchased my light in Nov. 2020 and it has been giving good service ever since. I also have a couple of other models as well for other tanks. I use a 72 watt model on my 55 gallon.

 

[tinylostwine]

I have a 40 gallon breeder. I have a Hygger 957 light on the tank. I use the 60 watt model that ranges from 36" to 42" in length using extendable brackets. You could use the 48 watt model which ranges from 30-36". However, since the difference in price is only $6, I recommend the 60 watt unit. Due to the breadth of the tank front to back, the 60 watt light provides better coverage.

Remember that the Hygger 957 is fully programmable in color, brightness and timing. Thus, you can adjust the lighting to fit your needs. I purchased my light in Nov. 2020 and it has been giving good service ever since. I also have a couple of other models as well for other tanks. I use a 72 watt model on my 55 gallon.

I have the 957 and talked about it above but when programming while you can set the intensity for different periods i don't remember being able to program the rgb on each time setting just intensity. Maybe my memory is foggy or maybe you're thinking of the option to change the colour (you can cycle through blue/red/... but you can't actually say 10% blue 20% red); still it is decent for what it is - and it is a few dollars less than the Chirios B and a few watts less at the same size. The 957 i have is on a 20 long which doesn't need much power; i do have one for a 10 and used it for a bit but i think i prefer the tone of the chirios B (this is very minor and a personal visual effect - not a measurement of par or plant growth) i think the chirios lens does a better job blending the different colour leds but again i only notice it on the 20 long when i look at the reflection off the water which is not often.

 

[coralbandit]

I have the fluval 3.0 on display 180 and they are nice.
I used Beamsworks DA FSPEC for all my breeder tanks. No fancy anything with this light.You need a timer.
I used a cheap EBAY dimmer for the Beamsworks. They grew mosses, anubias, java ferns and most low/medium light plants.
Amazon is where to find any light or atleast compare cost and get reviews.
Welcome to Fishlore~!

 

[RayClem]

The default mode one the Hygger 957 is to have the light come on in the morning with a amber hue. Then both the color temperature and the intensity ramp up until noon. Then it starts ramping down again until it ends up at green and finally at blue during the night. While you might not be able to specifically set the intensity of the RGB LEDs, you can set the overall color of the light.

 

[fishywoo]

Lots of fancy lights above!

I use those metal light clamps on my 40. I turned them to prevent too much algae. Same on my 29. Soft light led bulbs. Led desk lamps on my 10 and 5. =) cheap, but works. I personally like these better than aquarium made lamps.

This is my 40: (one of the two lights are off right now.)

 

[RayClem]

Lots of fancy lights above!

I use those metal light clamps on my 40. I turned them to prevent too much algae. Same on my 29. Soft light led bulbs. Led desk lamps on my 10 and 5. =) cheap, but works. I personally like these better than aquarium made lamps.

This is my 40: (one of the two lights are off right now.)
View attachment 918986View attachment 918987

It looks like your plants are those that do well with low lighting. If you had plants that like high lighting intensity, you might not be faring quite as well.

 

[fishywoo]

It looks like your plants are those that do well with low lighting. If you had plants that like high lighting intensity, you might not be faring quite as well.

The set up in this tank is for lower lighting and it's also angled away. My other tank is much lower, and in my 10 and 5 with the led desk lights it's practically right on top. Bright enough for floating plants to go nuts at least and there's 3 dimmable options and 3 light settings. I keep them on soft light on the highest setting during the day.

The metal lamp clips create more heat from the light. I once had a bigger one much lower to the tank shining right down on it and got amazing growth in a variety of plants before. This was in my 55 years ago though.

It works for me anyway. Whatever works for you!

 

[RayClem]

Because most plants are green, they are reflecting green light. They utilize red and blue light for photosynthesis. The exception to this rule is plants with red coloration. They reflect red light, so they need green and blue light. The human eye is most sensitive to green light. Thus, brightness is measured in the green region of the spectrum. For aquariums, a full spectrum light bulb is best for showing fish coloration and plant growth. That means an LED bulb with approximately 5000K daylight color temperature.

In the old days of fishkeeping, incandescent bulbs were the only thing we had. They have a color temperature of approximately 2700K. Once fluorescent bulbs became available, you could purchase Grow Light bulbs. They used a variety of phosphors to produce lighting of differing wavelength. These bulbs can still be purchased today,

I once used 6500K fluorescent bulbs on a marine aquarium with corals and an anemone. They did fine, but it took 195 watts of lighting for a 29 gallon tank. That is 6.7 watts per gallon. Fortunately, we now have efficient LED lights that can produce similar light output for a fraction of the energy.

 

[Gnop1950]

I've tried several lighting solutions in the few months since I've returned to the hobby. Here they are with my comments/experience. Note: I have floating plants, Salvinia Minima, and a variety of other plants with low to medium light requirements.

Nicrew C10 and Nicrew Clipon. I use the C10 on my 29-gallon tank (still being cycled) and the Clipon on my 3-gallon Shrimp tank. I did purchase some 3" risers for the C10. I'm happy with both. The programmable module is in line with the power supply and works well. You can set start/stop times, brightness, and sunrise/sunset functions. So far the plants are doing well.

The Twinstar 45B was recommended to me so I bought one. I use this one on my 10-gallon community tank. While it seems a good light I've found the in-line controller to be unreliable, or maybe I'm just not smart enough to figure it out. But I solved that problem by plugging it into a smart plug and controlling the on/off times using that instead of the in-line controller.

With my larger tank, not arriving until June, I ordered a USA Satellite Freshwater LED (36-48"). I'm looking forward to seeing how this light performs. It has a ton of settings/options including a "weather" feature, whatever that means.

I also have a Fluval Nano Light that I was originally using on my 10-gallon. I liked the light but it doesn't fit the tank, without modification, when I have the glass cover on so I'll be using this on my next small tank. There is an app to control this light and once I figured it out, it can be somewhat confusing, it works well for timing and sunrise/sunset features.

One thing is for sure, the options for lights are one of the most significant changes I've noticed since coming back to the hobby.

Lots of good info in this thread. My personal opinion is that if you are doing low to medium-light plants pretty much any of the suggested lighting solutions will work so pick one that fits your budget and has the options you are looking for.

 

[3Fishnight]

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