Lighting Recommendations For 120 Gallon Planted Tank

HDavid
  • #1

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So I recently sat up my 120 gallon aquarium and I have live plants added to it. As of right now it has 2 24” t8 daylight bulbs that I assume are not go no to benefit the plants in any way spectrum wise. The bulbs have no wattage labeled and I couldn’t find any spectrum data on aqueon daylight bulbs so I will assume they should be replaced. I have 2 growth bulbs but they have a very red tint to them that I don’t like on a display tank. Right now I might just grab some plant friendly LED strips, but I would really like a bright white fluorescent light that can grow plants. Any recommendations that won’t break the bank are appreciated
 
jacob thompson
  • #2
Beamswork full spectrum lights are a decent brightness and good enough to grow low light plants in a tank your size. You’ll probably need to buy two smaller ones if you want to cover your tank end to end. If you want high light plants in the future it’s a bit pricy but the finnex 24 planted + would be the way to go. If you want to just upgrade for low light plants the finnex stingray is another good full spectrum light.
 
Terabyte
  • #3
Depending on tank depth a Finnex Ray ll (Med-High light) or a Finnex 24/7 cc or se (Low tech/light)
 
max h
  • #4
I'm going to trying the Beamswork DA FSPEC on my 150.
 
Lacey D
  • #5
View attachment 468042

So I recently sat up my 120 gallon aquarium and I have live plants added to it. As of right now it has 2 24” t8 daylight bulbs that I assume are not go no to benefit the plants in any way spectrum wise. The bulbs have no wattage labeled and I couldn’t find any spectrum data on aqueon daylight bulbs so I will assume they should be replaced. I have 2 growth bulbs but they have a very red tint to them that I don’t like on a display tank. Right now I might just grab some plant friendly LED strips, but I would really like a bright white fluorescent light that can grow plants. Any recommendations that won’t break the bank are appreciated

What are your tank's dimensions?
I have personally had a lot of luck with COODIA() and NICREW() LEDs for my planted tanks with low-moderate light level plants. I have a 10 gallon, where it the 20" COODIA made everything go NUTS, but I'm wondering if it's dimming a little, or if that's just the duckweed taking everything over. On my 37g, the NICREW's light penetrates decently all the way to the bottom--I actually like the effect because just enough light is filtered out that it makes the metallics on my endlers pop, where nearer the surface they're a little washed out.

Most of the experts recommend the 24/7 planted + (), and I have to admit the side features like it being programmable are nice. Then there are the lights the King uses (link):
 
angelcraze
  • #6
I use Beamswork lights on my low/med light large tanks (90g and 120g). I have two fixtures on each tank. I personally love them.

I don't find the BW EA spec fixture bright enough, but I'd love to try the DA spec. The green LEDs are almost useless for plant growth, but I like how it brings out colors in the plants. And how the red and blue accentuates fish colors.

I use the 1W fixtures on my deep (24"+) tanks because I feel they permeate farther down, but I believe two 0.5W fixtures would have a similar effect.
 
max h
  • #7
On my 100 gallon tank it has 2 48" BW ET series lights and I got incredible plant growth, at the time I couldn't find an affordable 60" light.
 
angelcraze
  • #8
Same here, I have 2 48" fixtures on my 60" tank, they grow the plants just fine, even low light in the shaded corners like amazon sword, crypt and anubias. I wasn't sure if 48" would be enough light, but I'm very happy with the plant growth.
 
max h
  • #9
angelcraze mine are mounted in a wood canopy so the lights cover the whole length of the tank, over lapping in the middle.
 
angelcraze
  • #10
angelcraze mine are mounted in a wood canopy so the lights cover the whole length of the tank, over lapping in the middle.
Mine are right above the tank on the glass canopy. Both fixtures are together in the middle with 6" shaded areas on each side that I keep low light plants in only. I say 6", but the diode spreads enough to light up the edges, just not as strong as directly under the light.
 

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