Need Suggestion on Lighting.

[Sir Alex]

I'm trying to find the cheapest light that will fit my 5' eel tank. :grumble:

What do you guys suggest? I can't hang anything. This is the cheapest 60" fixture I can find but I don't need so much light and don't want too much power consumption.

The other alternative is a 4' light with extendable brackets. The odyssea lights only extend up to 52".


What do I do???

 

[jcegt87]

thats gonna probably be the cheapest lights , you could always just turn to bulbs on and save the other 2 ,,,just a thought

 

[Marines_Wife]

What do I do???

You get on CL or with your local reefing community and get good top of the line stuff for rock bottom prices and not have to worry about buying product that is not up to par. Additionally if you have timers on your tank your lights wont just sit and run and consume energy. Aside from LED lights however, you are going to have power consumption. However your tank isnt going to skyrocket the price of power. Even when I was running the lights on my husbands 55 my bill wasnt that bad.....

 

[jcegt87]

You get on CL or with your local reefing community and get good top of the line stuff for rock bottom prices and not have to worry about buying product that is not up to par. Additionally if you have timers on your tank your lights wont just sit and run and consume energy. Aside from LED lights however, you are going to have power consumption. However your tank isnt going to skyrocket the price of power. Even when I was running the lights on my husbands 55 my bill wasnt that bad.....

well he looking for cheap lights just to light up his tank , not to have a high par rating but just to illuminate his tank

 

[Marines_Wife]

well he looking for cheap lights just to light up his tank , not to have a high par rating but just to illuminate his tank

We are using "par" in two different ways LOL

In any case, I still dont understand why you dont get something from your local reefing community or CL you can get "cheap" from there.

 

[Northstar24]

Look for a 60" fixture used, you can save some serious coin on Craigslist or local reef clubs. If you're just doing it to light the tank (and not keep any coral) why not just use the strip light most aquariums come with? These should easily be found in standard lengths, and a couple of T8 bulbs is not going to use much power....

 

[SarahSmile]

Won't those crap lights cause algae though Northstar? For some reason I remember reading that...

 

[Marines_Wife]

Won't those crap lights cause algae though Northstar? For some reason I remember reading that...

To my understanding any lights will cause algae growth. Its your timing and your CUC that keep them in check.......I may only be 1.2 right here though

 

[Northstar24]

Not if you change the bulbs on a semi regular basis, I would think they would be fine

 

[SarahSmile]

Hmmm, I swear I remember researching and discovering that the T-8s were not even recommended for FOWLR. My hood came with those T-8s so I really, really wanted to use them.
Oh well, what do I know?

 

[Northstar24]

Hmmm, I swear I remember researching and discovering that the T-8s were not even recommended for FOWLR. My hood came with those T-8s so I really, really wanted to use them.
Oh well, what do I know?

My dad and I used them for years over cichild tanks and sure there was some algae, just like there is some algae under T5's, or LED. I'd think that they'd be like T5's and cause issues if the bulbs are never changed

 

[Sir Alex]

Hmmm, I swear I remember researching and discovering that the T-8s were not even recommended for FOWLR. My hood came with those T-8s so I really, really wanted to use them.
Oh well, what do I know?

This is what marcah said in this thread: https://www.livingreefs.com/lighting-hood-question-t36576.html

yeah I went through the same when I first started out those lights wont grow much of anything but algae in our saltwater tanks.. try to find what you can with a t-5 4 bulb fixture, that will allow you to expand on corals as you wish.. you should be able to find one rather inexpensively ( as far as saltwater accessories go where nothing is that cheap)...

But those are t12, like I'm running...



Does anyone know a 4' fixture that extends to 5'? If not I'll just get the 4 bulb odyssea when I have a little extra money to spend.

 

[marcah]

when I posted that I do not mean they cause algae I mean that those lights wont grow anything but algae.. I agree with northstar that if bulbs are changed on a regular basis and water params kept up those lights would be fine on a FOWL..:D