light choice for 36G bowfront?

The tank is 30" long and 18" high, so you know what we have to work with. I plan to have a low-medium at best planted setup, no C02, and mainly liquid ferts with the occasional root tab. I do not want any floating plants this time, which will help light penetration, but also can't have something super bright. This will be in the living room and I don't want anything to overwhelm and takeover. Plus I want the fish to feel comfortable. Now that I've been using CFLs and LEDs I'm torn between these. The problem is finding something that is effective, looks nice, and is relatively affordable (no more than $100 IF possible). I don't want to wash any colors out but don't want any of one particular color-going as natural as possible. I would prefer something around 6500k.

The latest choices I've been researching are:

1) Aqueon LED fixture. Fixture is nice (mixed reviews online), but only comes with 1 bulb. You have the option of adding up to 3, which is nice. From what I've read you need at least 2. The problem I see (correct me if I'm wrong), is that you can only choose from their daylight bulb and colormax bulb (which I'm familiar with and like). The total package wouldn't be super expensive either.

2) TrueLumen LED strips are worth noting. Getting a customized, or pre-setup fixture is too much for me. So these would have to be strips attached to another fixture. This means they'd be working along side another light (whatever that may be-maybe current fluorescent). Which in turn means something else that needs a socket (have to buy power cord seperately), but could also mean another timer. However, you get a little diversity in your strip choices, choosing blues, red, white, etc. I like the red/12k white as an accent. Plus you can get a dimmer for these, which will help find that perfect light setting.

3) CFLs. This is probably my preferred method, mainly for light disbursement for the entire tank. I know I can replace iridescent bulbs with these, which is helpful, but most fixtures only come with one bulb socket and that's not going to cut it. I need at least 2. I can't find any fixtures that have multiple bulbs in it. Maybe I'm just blind. I'm kind of new to these types of bulbs but know they come in different shapes. Can the longer tubes fit into the bracket style setting for t8s?! What do the double pin bulbs fit into? I've also noticed twin incandescent fixtures. Could you somehow set this up to a current fixture? If it was just me, I would just buy a few clamp-light style fixtures and hang them over the tank (and we wouldn't be having this conversation), but the wife will not allow that...If I could do 4 CFL bulbs I think it'd be perfect.

4) combo(s), ???

Please provide any feedback, experience, recommendations, etc that you can. Thanks ahead of time. I'm excited!

 

Finnex Planted Plus LED, they make a 30 inch model which would be perfect for your tank. They are small and look good, as well as doing a great job growing plants. That would provide low to medium light and they produce a good looking aquarium with their white, red, and blue LED's. Around $90 on ebay and amazon.

I have the 36 inch on my 40 breeder and am very happy.

 

I actually have a smaller one and like it for the most part. It does look good and supposedly has a good spectrum for plants. My only issue is that it is really bright! But maybe that's because I have it on a small tank.

 

Better to have too much rather too little. If you got it and it was a bit strong, you could selectively put a bit of tape over some of the LED's to minimize the light they put out.

 

good point

Have you tried any of the others? Just curious

 

anyone have experience with the Current Satellite LEDs?

 

Chiming in because I have the same tank and basically the same question -- what 30" LED fixture for 36bow to implement a true low maintenance, low-light setup without getting close to the threshold of needing CO2 or fueling algae (I don't really even want to dose). The 17watt t8 that comes with the 36bf would probably struggle to provide for plants due to the height of the tank, so we need something a bit stronger but not over the top.

I was trying to decide between the finnex stingray and planted+. Afraid the planted+ would put me squarely in medium light zone and verging on needing CO2, but I like the idea of going stronger and using tape to dI'm if necessary. Being an LED with little heat output, it should work pretty well.

Any more comments for me and the OP on stigray vs planted+ for low light? There's a video of the stingray vs planted in a 20high I believe which is several inches shorter than 36bf. Planted is considerably brighter. PAR data at the substrate was around 30 for stingray to 50+ for the planted for comparison.

 

I have a 36g bowfront with the current satellite +. So far I really like it and it's more than bright enough for my low light plants. You can control the degree of light with the remote and there are some neat settings to play around with, although that's more for your own amusement instead of actual function. My plants seem to be doing fine; I dose with Flourish Excel and Flourish once a week. I have a small Finnex+moonlight on my planted 6 gallon tank. It's a lot brighter than the Current, but for a low light low tech tank, the satellite + is perfect imo.

 

I just brought the same tank and it came with t8 light bulb with 27 watts full sprecturm. I was wondering can I just upgrade the
light bulb instead of the whole light system. I want to have plants in my aquarium.


thanks

 

First off welcome to fishlore. Second, I would start your own thread with your question so it doesn't get mixed in with this older thread.

As for your question, fixtures are designed to work with a certain bulb. You can't really "upgrade" your bulb unless you wanted to install a new ballast. You can get a new bulb that may be better suited for plants like something in the 6500k color temp range. But your "full spectrum" bulb is probably ok for plants. See if you can find a color temp on it somewhere, it will be in thousands and have a K after it. Your fixture will support low light plants, but it is on the low side of low light, if you know what I mean.

 

I have the flora max 17w Aqueon light that came with a hood. I have wisteria, jungle Val, anacharis, moneywort, Amazon swords, Java fern, Amazon frogbit, and Java moss. I dose twice a week with flourish. I turn on my light 8 hours a day. That's it. My plants are doing great.