# More newbie lighting questions



## sprwoman1 (Jun 18, 2007)

I need help. I am new to plants and I have been reading around till my eyes are crossed and I have forgotten most of what I have read.
I want to re do my 55g, (and my 180g in about a year). My dream tank would be a heavily planted tank with discus, fire eel, possibly shrimp, kuhli loaches, MTS, freshwater clams, and guppies or neons (the eel may eat some shrimp and I am ok with that). Not decided on algae eaters. I want to do this with out co2 and make it lower light.
I am undecided about the substrate, even toying with the idea of going bear bottom with plants in pots. 
Debatable about the lights. I have the plastic "hoods" that prevent me from trying to put all my light strips over the tank. I like fish that require lids. Conteplating the t5's or pc's, hopeing to not have to replace my tops.

55g - play sand, standard light, penguin 350, power head w/sponge prefilter, amazon swords, horn wort, java moss, java fern, otto cats, 6 kuhli loaches, 2 clown loaches, baby fire eel, bettas. 
180g - gravle, fluval 404, power head on a sponge filter, standard lighting, arowana, sailfin pleco, 2 albino iridescent sharks, bala shark, gobey?, few plastic plants.

I need to sell several fish, decide on lighting, & substrate. Possible upgrade the filter on the 180g and use the fluval on the 55g.

If I got 2 of these I would be lacking a reflector? and what else? http://www.tricitytropicals.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=505

I was eyeing this. http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/236417/i/1/product.web

So in regards to space: Will this work? Sufficent light to grow low/moderate plants with out co2?

Opinions/advice welcome.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Have you looked into what www.ahsupply.com has to offer?


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## sprwoman1 (Jun 18, 2007)

Yeah, I am seriously considering www.ahsupply.com but, unless I re do my tank top/lid on the 55g I'll not be able to fit a double on it. And with the bright kits I can like refit it into my existing light houseing? That would eliminate the need to buy/build new houseing for the light, and not need to get a new lid too. 
Maybe I have read too much, That would give me the 2wpg but not allow for a midday burst. And I was thinking about possibly using the 48" lighting on the 180g in the future with a 24" to fill the gap. With the logic that getting more light and not using all the bulbs right now would be easier/cheaper than getting more lighting/replacing it later on. After readding the hype about the T5's and with the depth of the 180 I was thinking it may be a good idea.
Am I just overcomplicating things? Mabey I am.
So would 6 of the 55 watt bright kits be suficent for the 180g?
And how many for the 55g?
And honestly the price of the kits + price of bulbs + possible enclosure + time to put it together compaired to just buying a satelight fixture with lunar lights makes the satelight look better. But I hear that the quality would be better on the kits.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

You might be overanalyzing.  But seriously, a lot of this is up to you. On a 55gal tank, 110W of lighting would make it a low-mod set up which would allow you to grow a lot of plants, on the 180gal 360W of lighting would pretty much allow you to grow anything you want. As tank volume increases, wpg rules tend to change - 2wpg on a 10gal tank is very low lighting, while on a 180gal tank is high lighting. 'Noonbursts' - some folks swear by them, many others wouldn't dream of using them. You don't need this to have healthy plants. If you're just starting out, imo, it's best to start out with moderate lighting. As your experience/success increases, then you can go into higher lighting if you so choose. It's your call. 

Kim at AHS is a very helpful fellow. I am sure if you called him and asked him any questions you might have about his products he will answer them for you.


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## sprwoman1 (Jun 18, 2007)

Overanalyzing... Me?!?!  It's just that I'm the kind of person that dose not go out and replace things often. I wear my shoes till they fall apart and I can't wear them any longer. So what ever I buy, most likely I'll end up with for a long time. And I would rather get it right so I am not hating it and cursing it for years to come.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

> I wear my shoes till they fall apart and I can't wear them any longer.


We have the same shoe philosophy. 



> And I would rather get it right so I am not hating it and cursing it for years to come.


I understand what you're saying, but in this hobby, you will find there is typically a continuous evolution and change. As you progress from learning how to grow a few plants, to being able to grow more, how changes in your tank affect things, to learning what looks good together, etc. Definitely NOT a static hobby, it's part of what makes it so much fun.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

The AHsupply option is a very good choice, but it sounds like you have limited space and the time it takes to build a nice enclosure for it. The Nova T5H0 2x54w fixture is a decent fixture and will give you adequate light for a low to moderate light setup. The Nova is not as good as a Sunlight Supply Tek fixture due to lack of individual reflectors, but is also considerably less money.

Check out reefgeek.com if you're interested in Tek Fixtures. Otherwise go with the Nova as I think it'll be exactly what you'll need for your goals.

-John N.


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## sprwoman1 (Jun 18, 2007)

Hubby is suggesting I "not mess around" making the 180g (in the living room) the "show" tank and not the 55g (by the dinning table). Which is slightly more complicated due to prices on 72" fixtures, not owning many tools, hubby is talking about moving in about a year, I will need a step stool/ladder just to get to the bottom of the 180g, and those fish will need to be somewhere else before I can even think about plants. :doh: :frusty:
My head hurts.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

I recently set up a high-light, CO2, planted 180g tank. There is no way on this green earth that I'd consider even for one second going through all that work if was going to move anytime in the next decade. DO NOT underestimate the work behind getting a big tank up to planted "show quality." You'll all be a lot happier (and richer) if you try out the 55g tank first.

If you do decide to convert the 180 to a planted tank, drop me a line. I managed to find some relatively inexpensive but marvelously effective lights for my setup. Of course, "inexpensive" is a term that doesn't have quite the same meaning when applied to tanks >100g.


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## sprwoman1 (Jun 18, 2007)

This tank was bought as a grow out, but I wanted to show how much sucess I have had in this tank with normal lighting.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Nice! Until I 'learned' (sometimes I use that word loosely  ) how to grow plants, I couldn't keep anything alive for more than 2 months. But I had a friend who had a 10 gal tank with undergravel filter that he never did a thing to other than occasionally top off. He had a sword plant in there that took up over 3/4 of the tank, one of the prettiest swords I've seen. I had the same exact set up, but different water source for me (well vs city) and anything I planted in the tank, slowly died.


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