Lighting options

[ponitboss]

Good afternoon to all, I'm looking for some lighting options for a 5ftx15x20inch tall aquarium for planted tank medium light plants, swords, crypts and couple stem plants

 

[3Fishnight]

Could always look into shop lights. Cheap and do the trick. Just make sure you get the right color and wattage. So your tank doesnt look really weird under the light. 6500k. What kind of planted tank are you going for? Higher tech with co2 or no co2?

 

[Fishfur]

Could always look into shop lights. Cheap and do the trick. Just make sure you get the right color and wattage. So your tank doesnt look really weird under the light. 6500k. What kind of planted tank are you going for? Higher tech with co2 or no co2?

I used shop lights quite successfully for a long time.

There are a couple of things to watch out for with them.

One thing to be aware of is that unless they state otherwise on the packaging, or state a high IP rating - ideally IP68, they are nowhere near waterproof, not even if it says they’re safe to install in damp locations.

Should an ordinary everyday shop fixture accidentally end up in the water, it will need careful drying off. Best to take the case apart so the interior can be thoroughly dried as well - if only to avoid rusting. A dunk may ruin an LED type light tube.

One also has to watch out for rusting as time passes. But if a bit of rust is caught quickly, then a little rust paint will solve the problem.

 

[ponitboss]

Could always look into shop lights. Cheap and do the trick. Just make sure you get the right color and wattage. So your tank doesnt look really weird under the light. 6500k. What kind of planted tank are you going for? Higher tech with co2 or no co2?

Co2 yes high and low tech I guess I have 2 lights a 36 inch stingray 2 and a 36inch beamswork da fspec. Tank is 60 inch long may put high light plants under the stingray, and low light plants under the beamswork

 

[Lucifer]

I've done a bit of research lately on lights. I also have a 5ft long relatively heavily planted tank running C02.
At the moment I'm using lights from a company specialising in growing plants under grow tents. The lights work ok on a deep tank, although I haven't been able to determine the exact spectrum as the company hasn't supplied that data for this particular model. These are IP65 rated.

The two issues with these is the lack of a dimming function and also the colour temperature which is kind of like a warm yellow so I don't get to see the true colour of the plants or fish. I'm guessing around the 3,500K mark.

Seen as I'm running C02, I want the option to be able to grow most plants in the future, even if I'll most likely only ever have easy/medium plants. It needs dimming, it needs a good kelvin temperature, but that is personal taste. I have a light on another tank which sits at 8,000K (can't change it) but I think this is slightly too cool, 6500K seems to be the benchmark for a more natural daylight look, but as mentioned is personal taste. Some lights you can change that to your liking. I want it to have a good spectrum for growing plants, see below an example of one below from Week Aqua which seem pretty decent. Mind you this isn't such a big deal unless you are really getting into some of the red plants and more difficult ones. Another thing is good colour rendering. The better lights definitely make the plants pop a lot more but it depends on what you require.

Having said all that, as Fishfur mentioned, a shop fixture, led floodlight etc will grow plants pretty well also. If all you want to grow is relatively easy plants then something like that will do the job just fine I think.

Probably more important is balancing light, C02, nutrients and temperature. Something I'm always battling lol.