# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Lighting a 240 gallon tank



## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

Hi I have a tank that is 96 in. x 24 in. x 24 in. 240 gallon tank. Does anyone know what's a good way of lighting it? I was thinking of using ahsupply.com lights but am shaky about what bulb combination to use. Thank you.


----------



## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

Hi I have a tank that is 96 in. x 24 in. x 24 in. 240 gallon tank. Does anyone know what's a good way of lighting it? I was thinking of using ahsupply.com lights but am shaky about what bulb combination to use. Thank you.


----------



## Hawkeye (Aug 20, 2004)

One thing about big tanks is it takes big bucks to light them. You have to ask your self is, what plants you want to grow first. Then you can zero in on the kind of lights. For me I like plants in the mid to bright light range, so I would go with 8 96watt CF . That will give you just over 3w/gal. But I don't think I could sell spending that much on lights to my wife. Your tank is 24" tall so good reflectors are a must to get the light penetration you need for foreground plants.

Hawk


----------



## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Joey,
You might want to check out this thread posted by Roger Miller on the open top hood he built for his 150g tank. He uses 55w PC tubes mounted perpendicular to the tank face, but you could use 65w tubes instead. It'll take ten tubes (65w) to get you to 2.7wpg. Eleven tubes gets you to almost 3wpg.

The thing about the 96w tubes that would bother me is that they're a better suited for tanks whose length are multiples of 3' (since the tubes are 34" long).


----------



## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Oh, and here's a link to a place in Redwood City (Innovative Lighting Solutions) that has really good prices for bulbs andother lighting supplies. They do mostly ebay sales, but accept walk-in customers, too. They're great if you need something right away and don't want to pay a fortune on overnight shipping.


----------



## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

hey Bill, thanks for your help.

say, when do you want to come by and pick up the crypts?

by the way, the pearlweed you generously gave me is growing like crazy. Thanks much.


----------



## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Joey,
Glad the Pearlweed is doing well for you. I just ripped out a huge patch of it since it had a mind to take over the front of the tank (as well as get infested with hair algae). I still have a bunch of it in the back corner that I'm trying to grow vertically. I bought a small clump of HC from Albany a couple of weeks ago and have got that growing out front now. With a little bit of luck I'll be able to send some of that your way, too.









Saturday I'm heading for another SFBAAPS open house in the city. If you want I can grab a few interesting looking plants for you from the pot luck and bring them by on Sunday for a trade.


----------



## Dojo (Feb 2, 2003)

Roger used 6 55w on his 5ft tank of same width and height as your 240gal. Which is 3ft longer, so if he's haveing great success with his 55wt CP's then I dont see why 8x55 wouldnt bring equal results in your 240 gal. The lights would be placed 12" apart (on center) instead of Rogers 10". Or you could throw in 10x55 and do them 10.6" apart and be just like Roger.









Basicly, WPG doesnt have relevance here. Simply dimensions. Your goal isnt to light up your water, its to provide enough light for your plants. Right?! <g>

He's having that kind success with his 55w CP's makes me feel better about doing 4x96 on my 130gal tank, 72x18x26.

Especially when I dont plan on keeping any light intensive plants.


----------



## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

let's see. 8 x 55 watt means 440 over 240 and a lil less than 2 wpg... is that enough to grow any plant i want?

thanks for your help dojo


----------



## Dojo (Feb 2, 2003)

Algea, dont look at it in terms of watts/gal. Compare it to Rogers setup, this tanks only longer, so just add a few more 55wt 24" CP to his hood. 

Obviously Roger is having no problems growing all those wonderful plants in his 150gal with that light setup. So theres no reason it wouldnt bring the same results over a 240 gal which is SAME dimensions wide, and tall just 3 ft longer. so just imagine extending his hood to fit the 240 gal.

8x55, 9x55, or 10x55 would all work great based off Rogers success.


----------



## imported_Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 31, 2003)

The 3 watts/G rule only applies to tanks
in the medium size range - nano tanks require
much more light and large tanks require lesser
light.

Ask yourself one more thing - do you really
want a high light 240G tank? It's mostly stem
plants that require high light - and given
the rate of growth of most stem plants, do you
really want to be getting into that 240 to trim
all that back?

If you're going CF, for a 240 - I'd reccomend somewhere around 384-385 watts - 4 x 96 Watt bulbs or 7 55W bulbs at 12" intervals not
including the ends.


----------



## imported_Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 31, 2003)

If you really really want stems, inscrease
the lighting a bit - go with what Dojo is
reccommending.


----------



## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

Ghazanfar,

It's an honor to have your input. 

This is what I'd like to have. 

A tank viewed from all 4 sides. It will be a tank to serve as a divider of a big room. 

the foreground plants will be glosso, e tenellus, hairgrass. behind those will be anubias nana on the ground. behind that will be crypts, and java ferns on driftwood. 

possible stem plants to use: rotala, baby tears, ludwigia, perhaps stellata or limnophila later on. 

another question i have is: how should i set up the substrate? i know in typical aquariums viewed from the front, you have 2 inches in the front and 4 inches in the back... but with one viewed from both sides, i dunno what to do.


----------



## imported_Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 31, 2003)

You're really challenging yourself!
A high light tank, with those dimensions,
and viewable from multiple sides. You're a
braver man than I! It's not that it can't be
done - I'm just thinking about the time it'll
take to maintain that beast. But hey - if you're
upto to it - go for it. You can always change
things as you see fit later down the line.

To answer your question on how to setup
the substrate - you'd want it to slope up to
the middle of the tank from the edges. However,
if you're not going to planting in the middle,
and instead using wood and java ferns, I wouldnt
keep a deep bed in the middle - why waste the
substrate for that. Just make it look like the
slope continues up using rocks, dwood and plants.


----------



## Dojo (Feb 2, 2003)

I love tanks that look like they were sliced out of nature instead of landscaped "aquascapes" personally. I'd personally try and make the substrate wavy and just dippy and natural looking. Heh, I wish I could this is in my tank but I can go as far as making 8" piles everywhere and within 3 days the tank substrate is perfectly level. It's called A LOT of fat loaches. heh

I think if you sloped it up to the middle like a ridge it'd look funky. Though you may not be able to see it and as Ghanzanfar said, why wate the substrate? 

I have a question for you though! How do you plan to hide the ballasts and coords? And the filtration or are you drilling the tank? 

4 sides, that is a challenge! We'll all be expecting pictures!!!


----------



## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

dang , that is a very good point you brought up. all those wires will get in the way....and the heaters! oiy! does anyone have any ideas?


----------



## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Another option for landscaping could be to stagger open areas on both sides. Sort of like this...








Where the dark green areas would be areas of taller plants and hardscape.

I think if you try to landscape toward the middle for all four sides you're really limiting yourself to 12" of depth for the two long sides...you might as well be placing 55g tanks back to back.


----------



## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

Hi Bill, thanks I really like your idea. I will consider that when it comes time to aquascape.

side note: i can't make it tomorrow. (i think it's better that I go to church







). I wish you a good time tomorrow and you can teach me all that you learn from Luis! Lord knows I could use the help.


----------

