Lighting Question

nemo1981 · July 31, 2006, 04:16:28 PM

Hi all,

currently in my 6 footer i have a 4' single bulb dalbarb and a 2' single dalbarb with the pinky grow bulbs in them.

I want a brighter light in my tank, maybe a bit more natural light, but i want to keep the single reflectors if i can as there isn't much room in the hood for a double.

I was told to check out marine bulbs, and am not exactly sure what to look for.

I want to brighten it up, but not so much light as to cause an algae bloom or cook my fish.

Any advice or recommendations welcome.
Thanks in advance :wink:

gasnitro · July 31, 2006, 04:30:04 PM

you could try a sunlight bulb or a tropical light i would change the 4ft one

gasnitro · July 31, 2006, 04:32:45 PM

you could try a sunlight bulb or a tropical light i would change the 4ft one

nemo1981 · July 31, 2006, 04:36:17 PM

sorry should add that the lights are running the full length of the tank, end to end, not in front of each other. :wink:

sharkbaitnemo · July 31, 2006, 09:03:09 PM

Upgrade to compact fluro's.

The housing of compact fluro's are the same as single tube fluros so they don't take up any extra space under the hood.

A 6ft unit will use three 55W bulbs which is a total of 165W or a 4ft unit which is two 55W bulbs will have a total of 110W.

Green algae is a sign of too much light and brown algae is not enough light and too much nutrient.

sharkbaitnemo · July 31, 2006, 10:30:11 PM

opps double post :roll:

sharkbaitnemo · July 31, 2006, 10:30:34 PM

Also try using a lighter coloured gravel to brighten up the tank.

This is a 6ft, 800mm tall using compact fluro's.

[img:60706c852e]http://users.bigpond.net.au/jtl/6foot.jpg[/img:60706c852e]

Ben at Age of Aqua sells the Aqualina compacts and the different bulbs for the best price but they are not listed on his web site so you may need to call or email him directly.

nemo1981 · August 01, 2006, 04:19:32 AM

thanks, i'll look into compacts. :wink:

gc · August 06, 2006, 11:06:14 AM

You could change the bulbs. Grow bulbs look very dim. Tri-phospher and quad-phospher look heeps brighter. Go for 5000K or over. 3000K looks too yellowish IMO. HTH

nemo1981 · August 06, 2006, 12:45:00 PM

yeh at the price of a 6' compact i might go for the tri-quad phospher bulbs first.
thanks all

cvanwyk · August 07, 2006, 12:55:04 AM

bunnings has some awesome 150W halogen work lights for 6 bucks each...but they will probs cook your fish if u mount them too close :( .
i also saw some foot long bars of LED lights for working on cars and stuff at supercheap with an adaptor for mains power...could work? at 60bucks a pop i didn't feel like shelling out to experiment...yet
chris

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Lighting Question