# Really confused about the whole lighting thing...



## Aeropars

I've never paid a huge amount of details to the finer points of lighting and I currently have a 180 litre tank and have added 4 lights to it (all specific aquarium bulbs) to get it to over 3 watts per galon. Thats as far as I took it and while the plants grew well, the actual colour of the fish and plants were somewhat washed out. 

I own a Juwel Rio 180 which comes standard with a ballast housing 2 x T8 bulbs which i replaced with proper plant bulbs and also added 2 55 watt Interpet compact T5's.

I'm read about you guys just going down a hardware shop in the US and buying a household bulb but being able to get details about the K factor and all other sorts of stuff. I'm in the UK but have no idea how to start going about this. I've always got to a UK online retail for my ligthing but never looked at any graphs, or K ratings or colour spectrums.

what I want is good plant growth and the colours on my fish to be brought out as they all look so bland. this includes red and blues in fish.

Any help for a dumbstruck UK hobbyist?


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## gf225

I recommend 4 x 30w T8s in the Juwel Rio 180. You won't get overheating issues like with PC T5s.

Interpet Triplus are great for reds and blues. Interpet Daylight Plus for greens.

Or - Arcadia Original Tropical Lamp for reds and blues and Arcadia Freshwater Lamp for greens.

The Interpets are better output IME.

The Arcadia OT is very similar to the old Gro-Lux.
The Triplus is based on the old Triton. 

Both purple, Triplus higher intensity.

The Arcadia FW is 7500K, really green.
The Interpet Daylight Plus is 6500K, white/yellow/green

There are other decent T8s. Those mentioned are commonly available in most UK LFS.

Hope this helps.


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## Aeropars

Hi 

Thanks for the reply. I'd be very interested to see how you have mounted 4 t8's on the juwel. Any pics i might be able to look at? Did you buy another juwel ballast to power the additional 2 tubes?

LEe


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## gf225

Hello Lee.

It is very simple to double the lighting on the Juwel Rio range.

1. Buy 2 extra T8 tubes and reflectors.
2. Buy an appropriate light controller (ballast). You'll need 2 x 30w. You can get twin units, or use two singles if you prefer. I can recommend the Hagen electronic units - Hagen Glomat 2x30w Double Starter
3. Now balance the extra tubes on the tank's center brace. The trailing cables will provide sufficient stability.
4. Enjoy your aquarium!

Here's a pic of my Juwel Rio 125.


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## Aeropars

Hi George,

Thanks for your help so far. I cant quite see what is holding up the lighting? Dont suppose you can talk me through how you have threaded the cables and suchlike?

Impressive setup and i think i'd benefit a lot more from the t8s than the way it urrently is.


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## gf225

The tubes are literally balanced on the center brace, you know, the black thing that runs front to rear along the center of the tank. I know this sounds dangerous but you'll have to take my word for it when I say it works perfectly fine

The cables just run toward the rear of the tank and through the cut outs in the hood that are already there.

It's really that simple.

FYI my 10 year-old daughter now has this tank, she's running 3 x T8 and DIY CO2. It looks good too.


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## Moo

i'm running a small actinic bulb on my 58 gallon. wow.
it brings out colors amazingly.
just my two cents.
as long as it's not a huge amount of actinic light it shouldn't do much, and so long as you mount it at the right height above the tank you won't get that effect of fish changing color from the small bulb not covering the entire tank.

if it confusing, just ignore me. Im dumb sometimes.


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## Aeropars

gf225 said:


> The tubes are literally balanced on the center brace, you know, the black thing that runs front to rear along the center of the tank. I know this sounds dangerous but you'll have to take my word for it when I say it works perfectly fine
> 
> The cables just run toward the rear of the tank and through the cut outs in the hood that are already there.
> 
> It's really that simple.
> 
> FYI my 10 year-old daughter now has this tank, she's running 3 x T8 and DIY CO2. It looks good too.


Ahh, now i get you. When you said centre brace for some reason i thought you mean the ballast. DOH! My silly mistake.

What do you think to the T6 range that aqua essentials do? Fits into a standard ballast and they give out more output supposedly although i'm not sure on the colour they give out. I worked out that i would have 2.55 watts per gallon with the 3 x 30 watt T8 setup. Would I need more than this if i wanted some light loving plants?


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## gf225

With 2.5wpg you should be able to grow most things. I carpeted glosso with 2.2wpg - see my sig photos.

3 x 30w gives 1.9 wpg. 4 x 30w gives 2.5wpg.

I've no experience with the T6. They claim 40% more intensity which I personally find hard to believe. Could be worth a try but I'd stick with 4 x T8 personally. 2 x Daylight, 2 x Triplus. You'll get great growth.


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## Aeropars

... and I presume a good colouration of the reds in my fish and the greens of the lants?


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## gf225

You got it!


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## ruki

gf225 said:


> Arcadia Original Tropical Lamp for reds and blues and Arcadia Freshwater Lamp for greens.
> 
> The Interpets are better output IME.
> 
> The Arcadia OT is very similar to the old Gro-Lux.
> The Triplus is based on the old Triton.


I've been looking for something close to GroLux in T8. Don't know if it's available in the states.

Tritons sucked for me. They didn't give any warning and then just stopped lighting. Hoped they fixed that.


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## Newt

ruki said:


> Tritons sucked for me. They didn't give any warning and then just stopped lighting. Hoped they fixed that.


That is how Tritons work; it is by design. All other NO fluorescents need to be changed out every six months due to decay in the light output. Tritons do not decay in this way and can be used until they quit working.


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