Which Lighting System

Hello,
Which lighting system is recommended for fresh water tropical fish and plants for a 55 and a 75 gallon tank. T5's, Led's or a combination of both. The depth of both tanks is 21 inches. The length is 48 inches for both. I would like lights that can give me a choice between daylight and moonlight effects. I plan to spend between 800.00 to 1200.00 for all the equipment needed to start up the tank. I have 10 years experience in reefkeeping but none in the fresh water hobby. I have been out of the reef hobby since 2005 and now plan to go with freshwater.

 

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. T5 are a safe bet in a planted tank, but LED's have proven results as well though.

We need to know a lot more about what you want to do.

- What type of plants? Low light, medium or high?
- Is setup cost more important or running costs?

Please research some of your ideas, present it here and then we will be able to tell you anything you need

 

Welcome!

When wanting to do a planted tank it all starts with light.

Like mentioned too this depends on what plants you want to keep. Different plants have different lighting requirements to do best. Some also are not fully aquatic so you have to check the tags for lighting and if they are fully aquatic. Some need a nutrient rich substrate, root tabs, fertilizer dosed into the water column and CO2. The question is do you want to do CO2? Lighting around medium to high needs CO2 and fertilizer.

The stronger the light, the faster the plant will grow, and the nutrient uptake will be greater.

Less light = slow growth = slow nutrient up-take.

 

Thanks both,
I will probally be using CO2 and fertilizer just on a hunch because I want to put large growing plants along with some smaller type. Some of the live plants at the fish store did not appear healthy because I can see that their leaves are browning out. At the moment, I do not know anything about plants and their needs. Can you recommend a book that will give all the information I need such as lighting and the needs of plants?

 

Ok,
I found two great articles. One is on Plants and their care and the other is on Aquarium Lighting. I skimed through both and there is some very good information in both.



I intend to start reading them tonight. Both articles combined take up 52 pages.

 

Here'a another great article to read.



This link will take you to a great chart for lighting.

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/great-chart-to-determine-correct-lighting.105441/