# Lighting question for new 75 gal



## Error (Apr 16, 2004)

Hi all,

I used to frequent this forum a few years ago, but I ended up getting out of the hobby until just now.

I have a 75 gallon aquarium that I'm going to be setting up soon. The idea is to have it as a high-light, high-fertilization tank wherein I'll be growing some of the more difficult stuff.

When I left the hobby, LED fixtures were just being introduced and nobody had much information to share about them.

Anyway, my questions are these:

1. Are LED fixtures appropriate for this tank? If not, what is?
2. People used to use "WPG" measurements for how much light their compact fluorescent or T5 fixtures were giving off. How would I measure LED strength?
3. Possible to get a fixture with a metal halide/LED combination?
4. What kind of lighting would I use here? I'm looking for specific models. The tank's footprint is 18 by 48.

Thanks in advance for the help 

Brian


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

Forget WPG. Watts is input of energy; not output. It worked fairly well with the old T12 bulbs.

Personally I don't think LED technology is quite there yet for the hobby. Others will disagree. However, if you invest now and in 2 or 3 years time the LED fixtures solve many of their current shortcomings you will have made an investment in obsolete equipment.

I'd go with T5HO bulbs with a set up that allows you to step them ON and OFF. I would say a 3 bulb fixture is good for a 75.


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## Error (Apr 16, 2004)

Newt said:


> Forget WPG. Watts is input of energy; not output. It worked fairly well with the old T12 bulbs.
> 
> Personally I don't think LED technology is quite there yet for the hobby. Others will disagree. However, if you invest now and in 2 or 3 years time the LED fixtures solve many of their current shortcomings you will have made an investment in obsolete equipment.
> 
> I'd go with T5HO bulbs with a set up that allows you two step them ON and OFF. I would say a 3 bulb fixture is good for a 75.


Thank you for the reply. I would like you to elaborate on some of your statements, if you could. I am curious since I have been out of the hobby for so long.

What are LEDs' "current shortcomings"?

What is "two step[ping]" in this context? Regarding the T5HO bulbs.

Will three bulbs be enough for a tank with a depth if 18"? Well, closer to 15-16", after the installation of substrate. The reason I ask is because I'm going for the hard stuff...the sensitive stuff. _Ludwigia inclinata_ var. _verticillata_ from the Pantanal, for example. Or _Ammannia praetermissa_. The stuff that'll melt if you sneeze nearby.

I want this tank stuck in high gear. Back when I had a 50 gallon going, I had upwards of 3 wpg over it coming through compact fluorescents. The hard stuff did pretty okay. I want to duplicate that, as nearly as I can. Hence my mention of metal halides. (Plus, I like the underwater wavy effect.)

I've seen some fixtures that have a metal halide with LED's in it. Is that something I could use? Or even a metal halide bulb with T5HO's alongside it-I think I've seen those too. Or should I avoid metal halides altogether? And, if so, why?

What spectrum would I want, if I went with T5HO?

Lastly...do you have any particular brand or model in mind for this? If it were you, what would you buy? If you have a link to something like what you're describing, that would be most dope.

Thanks in advance for any reply.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

Error said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I used to frequent this forum a few years ago, but I ended up getting out of the hobby until just now.
> 
> ...


Yes they are and I would personally recommend them over any other fixture as with LEd's you need less electricity and your not constantly changing bulbs.



Error said:


> 2. People used to use "WPG" measurements for how much light their compact fluorescent or T5 fixtures were giving off. How would I measure LED strength?


This is the toughest part of LED's. There is so much garbage out there and so few really decent fixtures. When you find a decent fixture they add bells and whistles to be able to jack the price up.

Properly built LED fixtures will deliver twice if not more of the Light you need compared to the same wattage of any other type of lighting fixture today. Cheaper built fixtures are only slightly better than incandescent lighting. As an example 3 years ago the best LEDs were delivering a max of 110 lumns per watt and many of them were less than half of that, but today the quality LED's are just under 200 lumns per watt.



Error said:


> 3. Possible to get a fixture with a metal halide/LED combination?


I would not recommend that combo. The heat from the Metal Hide is the biggest enemy of effecient LED's.



Error said:


> 4. What kind of lighting would I use here? I'm looking for specific models. The tank's footprint is 18 by 48.


I had a 75 Gallon reef tank and through the years progressed through different lighting systems. Each delivered more light than the prior.
800 Watts of MH's gave me PAR 70 at the substrate
432 Watts of HO T-5's gave me Par 85 at the Substrate.
180 Watts of LED's gave me PAR 105 at the substrate.

With a DIY LED system you can balance the spectrum very nicely to your needs unlike most LED systems manufactured that are balanced in favor of the REEF tanks. or fish only tanks. You would not need nearly the 180 Watts I used for a planted tank but for high light some where closer to the 120 Watt range. I highly recommend that you use CREE or Philips LED's rather than the multiple off brands on the market today. CREE LED's are available in comercial fixtures but you need to be very cautios of the spectrum balance. To many comercial fixtures are heavey on the blue end of the spectrum and lack on the red end of the spectrum that plants require but is harmful to some corals.



Error said:


> Thanks in advance for the help
> 
> Brian


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

Error said:


> Thank you for the reply. I would like you to elaborate on some of your statements, if you could. I am curious since I have been out of the hobby for so long.
> 
> What are LEDs' "current shortcomings"?
> 
> ...


If your thinking about HO T-5's then I would go with a 4 bulb ATI fixture but it will be costly. As far as the spectrum goes I would use a combination of ATI's purple plus bulbs with the GE 6,500K bulbs. I'm running only two of them on my 120 gallon but it is a low to moderate lighted tank that will be converted to LED's shortly.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ATI_48_I..._Light_Fixtures-ATI-UZ3009-FILTFIT58U-vi.html


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

I hear a lot of good things about http://www.buildmyled.com/. with the only real complaint being some shadows at the top of the tank.

For t5hos I like aquaticlife. You could buy two of their 2 bulb fixture for less than the ATI costs and have the option of setting the timers to different periods.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

BruceF said:


> I hear a lot of good things about http://www.buildmyled.com/. with the only real complaint being some shadows at the top of the tank.
> 
> For t5hos I like aquaticlife. You could buy two of their 2 bulb fixture for less than the ATI costs and have the option of setting the timers to different periods.


BMLED's is one of the better LED Comercial Fixtures. If I were to go with them I'd get the Dutch Planted fixture rated for High Light Levels in your case. Which would cost $325.00 each per there web site but remember you will need two two separate fixtures. .Total cost for the two would be $650.00 that would deliver a total of 64 Watts per Fixture and 128 Watts total.

With the ATI fixture you can run 2 tubes at a time as they are paired on separate cords. That is unless they changed there design in the last three years from whee I got mine. The big difference between the AutoCliff and the ATI is the quality of the reflectors, the better cooling for longer bulb life on the ATI and better Ballasts. Over all you get more light from the ATI fixture.

On the other end of the spectrum I just ordered the parts for my 120 gallon tank to Build My Own LED fixture. While I'm going for moderate lighting The cost will be around $150, and if I were to go for High Lighting my cost would be around $250.00. Build time is about 8 hours if not experienced with them so dependent on how you value your time is the the big question.


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