Picking lightning for 24"x12" by 16" tall tank for freshwater fish and plants.

Hello,

I have this tank that is 24"x12" and 16" tall. It has a couple fish and I want to add some real plants to it.

It currently has 2 gold fish and a little green plant my brother gave me (Don't know what the plant is. It is stuffed between the masts in the sale boat, to keep it from floating off into the filter. Obviously I have know idea what i'm doing, but trying to learn.)

What I would like is lighting that I can use to help grow healthy plants and will make the take a little more sparkly in our otherwise pretty well lit family room.

Features I would like:

• Automatically turn gradually off and on at set times (or even better, with local sunrise and sunset)
• Able to temporarily turn off light for watching a movie in the same room, without disrupting lighting schedule.
• adjustable brightness, so I can tune it to the light level I would like in the room.
• not break when overzealous cat jumps onto tank (he already cracked a lid)

For a simpler lamp that just turns on/off and can supply good light to plants, I would be willing to spend maybe $100.

For a light that does it all I could part with up to $250.

 

The Finnex 24/7 will check 3 of the 4 boxes. Not sure if it is Cat-proof.

 

Would the Finnex 24/7 Planted+ be what I am looking for?


Edit: lol. You posted the exact same thing just before I did .

 

The finnex is great for plants AND plants are good for fish. For a Goldfish tank try:

Amazon Sword
Anacharis
Anubias
Banana Plant
Java fern
Hornwort
Vallisneria
Water Sprite
Water Wisteria

 

What about the Current-USA Satellite Plus Pro? It seems more configurable than the Finnex 24/7. Looks like you can set the day time and night time lighting modes and when it switches from one to the other. Also, it looks like you can precisely set the clock, which I guess would be nice if I ever wanted to add a system to do CO2 injections (not sure when I would want to do that).

The Finnex 24/7 looks good, but I worry about not really being configurable and feeding too much light to the tank, such that I get algae or something.

 

What about the Current-USA Satellite Plus Pro? It seems more configurable than the Finnex 24/7. Looks like you can set the day time and night time lighting modes and when it switches from one to the other. Also, it looks like you can precisely set the clock, which I guess would be nice if I ever wanted to add a system to do CO2 injections (not sure when I would want to do that).

The Finnex 24/7 looks good, but I worry about not really being configurable and feeding too much light to the tank, such that I get algae or something.

From the reviews that I have read, Current-USA has makes good lights also. I recommended the Finnex because that is what I have on my tank and it is a good light.

 

My local aquarium shop had the Current USA Satellite Plus Pro for a reasonable price, so I got that one. Also picked up some plants and fertilizer etc. He is ordering in some carpeting type plant for me that we talked about (I don't remember the name, but it looks nice and is supposed to be pretty easy). Will also be exchanging the substrate for something plant oriented.

It is too bad that it is basically impossible to show what a light looks like over the internet. I liked being able to tune it to get my favorite colors to pop. I still wish there was something with a customizable continuous 24/7 cycle. Hopefully I will someday have time to setup an arduino to do that.

 

I like the color of that light.