# Advice on setting up my 50 gallon



## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

Hello all. Perhaps some of you have read some of my posts before in this forum as I have been gathering info, and if so I apologize if some questions are repeated here. But in case you haven't, I will sum it up briefly. I have had a 10 gallon for a couple years and like having fish so thoguht I would upgrade to a 50. I just set it up and started fishless cycling it. I have an Eheim 2217, an inline heater and black flourite substrate. During the time it is cycling, I plan to add lighting and then some plants and thought maybe someone could give some tips on that.

To start with, I want to keep this very natural looking. Along with the black substrate, I am thinking maybe to put some driftwood and maybe some rocks in there along with plants, but I don't want it totally filled up with plants. I want to have room for the fish to swim around, so what is the best way to do that? Should you leave open areas in the front of the tank? Put the pile of wood in the middle, or to one side? My tank is wide (36 l x 18 w x 19 h) so there is a lot of room to work with. 

As far as the plants, I don't want to deal with pressurized CO2, and am going to build a canopy so it looks nicer out in the living room. I was thinking of getting a lighting kit to mount inside of the canopy, such as this kit from AH supply http://www.ahsupply.com/96watt.htm I thought that was a good price, and have heard good things about these kits. The only thing I want to make sure is that it is not too much where it will promote algae, but I suppose if it does, I could not leave the light on so long. I have looked at some T5HO fixtures but most I have seen say not to install under a canopy, so that rules that out. And the T5 regular output lights, I have had trouble finding 36" bulbs when looking online or in stores. So these kits seemed like a good option that I can just mount in the canopy. So once I get the lighting, then I suppose I can just get any low to medium light plants that I like, unless you guys have recommendations on ones that are easy to maintain.

That is really the main thing I want help with is setting this up and getting the lighting. I can worry about the fish later on, but if you want to make suggestions now, feel free. The only thing I have now is 4 harlequin rasboras left in the 10 gal that I will transfer over. So I might add a couple more of those to make a bigger school, and I am thinking of another school or 2 of fish that would look good with that black background and substrate (maybe tetras or something like that). Then besides that, a couple of bigger centerpiece type fish (gouramis perhaps, or anything else you can recommend), and some bottom dwellers. I also like shrimp so would like to get a bunch of those. Sorry this is so long, but am excited to get this going!


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hi
sounds like you're off to a great start,
i can't help with lights,however the idea of a nice pile of wood in the middle,
with some ferns planted inbetween. ?
i would increase the harliquines,cory dora catfish would be good for the bottom,
perhaps a bristlednosed plec would be good to have.
there are so many possibilities with a nice big tank,rummy noses,pearl gouramis,
bosmani rainbows(sp)
i'm sure others will be along to help soon.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I'll second-guess willow (hope he doesn't mind) when he says "in the middle" that he's not meaning literally in the centre of the tank. Anything placed directly in the centre of an aquarium, be it wood, rock or a specimen plant, looks un-natural and connived. Best to offset the "centrepiece" to one side, or mentally divide the tank into "areas" so to speak (but not evenly, again it doesn't look natural), rather like making little micro-areas within the framework of the entire tank area. It also helps (in my view) to have more than one piece of wood or rock, and like flower arranging odd numbers seem to be more restful to the eye, so three or five bits of bogwood with 3 rock areas, and plants spaced around these, would be one way to go. You can also create a greater sense of depth or space with standing wood resembling tree trunks. Hope this all makes sense. Check out some of the photos of member's tanks and I'll think you'll see what I mean. I have my two tanks pictured under "Aquariums" but there are many others here showing a variety of themes or styles. 

With black substrate (good idea) darker wood looks better than the lighter variety. And rocks would be best if darker rather than white or yellow. Also, keeping the same type of wood and same basic rock type/colour gives a tank a better feeling of being natural, which is what you say you want. It's a subtle thing that often isn't noticed until it is pointed out, but the same type of wood or rock unifies the tank, again creating a sense of more space. I think mine illustrate this.

Re the light, I took a look at the unit you linked, and would caution against it. It will be very bright (in their own words, a "retina burner") and you mentioned that you do not want CO2. In all planted aquaria, plants will be successful if the light (type, strength and duration) and nutrients are in balance (I include CO2 as nutrients along with trace elements and minerals). Plant growth will always be limited by the limiting factor, which means the essential element (light, CO2, trtace elements...) that is in least availability in the aquarium. You should aim to have light as the limiting factor; in other words, the available CO2 and nutrients must not be less than the available light needed by the plants to photosynthesize; if light is not the limiting factor, then algae will quickly take over because it is more readily able to extract carbon from carbonates. Two fluorescent tubes (full spectrum) over a 50g will give you plenty of light without CO2. I have two full spectrum tubes, each 40 watt in the 48 inch size, equating to approximately 1 watt per gallon on both of my tanks, no CO2, and no algae to speak of. The light has to be on the same each day to stimulate the plants, so a timer is best. Mine are on for 13 hours each day, but because the nutrients are in balance, algae is not a problem. Of course, I have some fish that are primarily algae grazers (Whiptail cat and ottocinclus in the 90g, Farlowella (Twig catfish) in the 70g) and I have struck a balance so that some algae grows for these fellows to eat.

Low or medium light requirement plants will thrive in this setup. Many of the rooted plants (plants with leaves attached at the crown to a root system) will work, like Amazon swords, Cryptocornyne (low plants at the bottom) with the pygmy chain sword, Anubias nana, Sagitarius, Java Fern, ...and many others. The floating fern (Ceratopteris) would be good, and you can also plant it in the substrate. Avoid most of the stem plants (the ones you buy in bunches that have no root system) as they require brighter light which means CO2 if they are to thrive. Although there are a few exceptions--the Brazilian Pennywort in the back corners of my 90g is growing like weeds, and I have to cut them back each week.

Hope this helps a bit. Byron.


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

Thank you Byron, that helps a lot actually. That makes sense what you said about not placing stuff in the center. I was wondering about this fixture being too bright or not, and have gotten different opinions on this. The main reason I was leaning towards this is because I would like to have it in a canopy. I considered some T5 shop lights, but to get one of them would be $30, plus I'd have to buy two bulbs, and that has no refecltor in them so a lot of light would be wasted. Do you have any recommendations? Or if I do get this fixture I mention, would leaving it on for shorter time periods help if I find it gives off too much light?


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

dm800 said:


> Thank you Byron, that helps a lot actually. That makes sense what you said about not placing stuff in the center. I was wondering about this fixture being too bright or not, and have gotten different opinions on this. The main reason I was leaning towards this is because I would like to have it in a canopy. I considered some T5 shop lights, but to get one of them would be $30, plus I'd have to buy two bulbs, and that has no refecltor in them so a lot of light would be wasted. Do you have any recommendations? Or if I do get this fixture I mention, would leaving it on for shorter time periods help if I find it gives off too much light?


Not being familiar with this fixture, I can only make general comments. The concern is not the duration but the brightness when its on. If it is possible to only have one of the lights on, it might be better. Or do they make a smaller one, say for a smaller tank, which if the light was enough would work on your 50g? Myself, I would want to see it (like in a store) before purchasing so I would know just what it was like. You really don't want to go beyond 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon, or whatever the equivalent for this type of light would be. Shorter duration to a point is OK, but I think elsewhere on the plant forum aquarists have mentioned that a minimum of 7-8 hours of light is probably the least one can do for plants. But I'm not a botanist, so maybe...

The other thing to consider is the brightness in the tank and for the fish. Not many fish like bright lights glaring on them, and some will actually hide themselves under plants, etc., which while it may be somewhat natural (depending upon the species) you don't want your fish hiding from you. And if they're doing it to avoid the light, it will be stressful and that leads to health issues. Also, I personally don't like sitting in front of brightly lit aquaria, it is not the sort of relaxing feel you want. At least in my view.

Let's hope some of the other planted tank folks have some experience with this and may be able to offer guidance.


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

Yeah I'll wait to hear from some more people to see what they say. Will I be able to grow much at around 1 wpg? I suppose I could use my T8 fixture I have and get another one, then I would have 2 30 watt T8's in there.


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## MBilyeu (Nov 25, 2008)

Byron said:


> I'll second-guess willow (hope he doesn't mind)


Just FYI Byron....willow is a she 

DM800- Personally I would line the roof of your canopy with foil and get two 24" dual T8 fixtures from home depot. This will give you 68 watts, and you wont have to run a fan like you would with the power compacts. My planted tank has <1wpg and I can keep plenty of different types of plants in it. They don't grow quite as fast as if they had more lighting and pressurized CO2, but they don't turn brown either. Like byron said, you may find that your fish hide from that much light, and you will have to take a bulb or two out. You will just have to find a balance.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

MBilyeu said:


> Just FYI Byron....willow is a she
> 
> Thanks muchly. My pardon, willow!
> 
> DM800- Personally I would line the roof of your canopy with foil and get two 24" dual T8 fixtures from home depot. This will give you 68 watts, and you wont have to run a fan like you would with the power compacts. My planted tank has <1wpg and I can keep plenty of different types of plants in it. They don't grow quite as fast as if they had more lighting and pressurized CO2, but they don't turn brown either. Like byron said, you may find that your fish hide from that much light, and you will have to take a bulb or two out. You will just have to find a balance.


dm800, another thing occurred to me this morning, and that is the "type' of light. This fixture seems like it might be intended for reef or marine tanks, and if so the light requirements are quite different from what you need over plants. Also, there is a definite difference in the colour of the light to our eyes as we view the aquarium. Having experimented with several types of tubes over the years, I've come to agree with the majority of authors that full spectrum gives the best light. Mr. Amano (well known author and proponent of the Nature Aquarium--not that I personally like all those setups (I don't), but the info on plant needs is good--has written of this in his series of articles in TFH. One has to balance the needs of the plant (blue particularly, then red as the two most important colours in the spectrum) with what looks "natural" when viewing the aquarium. Full spectrum achieves that. Having "bright" light of the wrong type is not going to aid plant growth, and it may not look "nice." I have had good luck buying tubes from my lfs where they will take them back in exchange after I've tried them, if I don't like the result; something not possible with online.

Byron.


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

When you say full spectrum, are you referring to a color temperature? 

MBilyeu, if I get shop lights, would I need to get special bulbs too, or just the shop light bulbs found at Home Depot? I would like a nice white light, and stay away from the yellowish. Do you happen to have any pictures of your tanks? I would like to get an idea of what I can grow with 60 watts or so. Thanks!


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

Do you still have the ten gal tank running with fish in it ? If so ,you could use some of the filter material from this tank (ten gal) along with some of the substrate from same ,to help jumpstart the biological process for the larger tank.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

dm800 said:


> When you say full spectrum, are you referring to a color temperature?
> 
> MBilyeu, if I get shop lights, would I need to get special bulbs too, or just the shop light bulbs found at Home Depot? I would like a nice white light, and stay away from the yellowish. Do you happen to have any pictures of your tanks? I would like to get an idea of what I can grow with 60 watts or so. Thanks!


Full spectrum means the light is complete over the spectrum; I've read many aquarist terming it the equivalent of the colour of light from the sun at high noon. You probably know what the spectrum is, like when a rainbow forms in the mist and you see the bands of colours. Flourescent tubes can be made to emit light in any of those colours according to the type of coating inside. Warm white, cool white, daylight (this is close to full spectrum), daylight deluxe (has a bit more yellow if memory serves me), etc. All of these will make the aquarium look different. Warm white accents yellows and to some extent green which is close in the spectrum, but is not recommended for plants because they require more blue and then red to photosynthesis. But a tank lit by light high in blue can take on a ghostly appearance, and the colours of plants 9and fish) don't look normal. To get it to look natural (the plant leaves their brightest and truest green colouring) most suggest full spectrum. If you have two tubes over a tank you can experiment a bit, as I have done. One tube is pure full spectrum and the second is higher in the blue range; its not as warm as straight full spectrum but it provides the plants better growing light and still looks natural, at least to me.

Colour temperature is stated in kelvin (used to be called degrees kelvin). You will see many on here recommend a minimum of 6700K for plant tubes.

For several years I used tubes from Home Depot. Over each tank I had one full spectrum and one daylight deluxe. They were made by Sylvania I think. HD stopped carrying them, switched to Phillips, but I didn't like the look now so I use one full spectrum Life Glo bulb and one of the others.

Just noticed i didn't respond to your earlier post about growing much at 1 wpg. As I explained previously, this amount of light will enable you to grow most of the rooted plants but not so good with stem plants. Look at the photos of my two aquaria to see what's possible with 1 watt per gallon.


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

Wow your tanks look great Byron! That is what I am looking for, or maybe even not that many plants, so the low wattage should work fine then. As long as the plants dont die or turn brown, I don't care how slow they grow. That is less maintenance in trimming them! So do you just have shop light fixtures in yours? I wonder if I should just use the one 30 watt fixture I have, and get another one? Or get a twin 36" T8 shop light from Home Depot instead of the 24 like MBilyeu suggested. Unless there was a reason that was suggested over a 36".


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## MBilyeu (Nov 25, 2008)

dm800 said:


> When you say full spectrum, are you referring to a color temperature?
> 
> MBilyeu, if I get shop lights, would I need to get special bulbs too, or just the shop light bulbs found at Home Depot? I would like a nice white light, and stay away from the yellowish. Do you happen to have any pictures of your tanks? I would like to get an idea of what I can grow with 60 watts or so. Thanks!


Yes I do have pictures of my tanks, they are under my name to the left. The only one that is planted is the 30 gallon. I only have two 24" t5 that are retrofitted into the existing hood. The only reason I did this was so that I wouldn't have to buy a glass top or make a canopy, otherwise I would have gone with t-8s.



dm800 said:


> Wow your tanks look great Byron! That is what I am looking for, or maybe even not that many plants, so the low wattage should work fine then. As long as the plants dont die or turn brown, I don't care how slow they grow. That is less maintenance in trimming them! So do you just have shop light fixtures in yours? I wonder if I should just use the one 30 watt fixture I have, and get another one? Or get a twin 36" T8 shop light from Home Depot instead of the 24 like MBilyeu suggested. Unless there was a reason that was suggested over a 36".


 
I only suggested the 24" because you will have a larger selection of bulbs, but if you find a bulb that you want and it fits into a 36" fixture, then that will be your better choice. I did a quick search, and I would recommend this bulb to you:

Zoo Med Flora Sun Max Plant Growth Fluorescent Lamp - 36" (T8) at Big Al's Online


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

MBilyeu said:


> Yes I do have pictures of my tanks, they are under my name to the left. The only one that is planted is the 30 gallon. I only have two 24" t5 that are retrofitted into the existing hood. The only reason I did this was so that I wouldn't have to buy a glass top or make a canopy, otherwise I would have gone with t-8s.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
dm800, this is a good series of tubes that MBilyeu linked to (I use some of them). I would just say that if you have a lfs that you deal with and they carry these, ask if you can return it for a different type if you buy one. I do this. While this tube is suited to plant growth, you might not like the "colour" it gives to the aquarium, kind of purplish if I remember right. If you have two tubes in the hood, one could be this one and one a full spectrum to balance, similar to what I have. On the other hand, you might like the look of this tube. Byron.


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

1077 said:


> Do you still have the ten gal tank running with fish in it ? If so ,you could use some of the filter material from this tank (ten gal) along with some of the substrate from same ,to help jumpstart the biological process for the larger tank.


 :dunno:


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

I think I will go by the store tomorrow and look at the fixtures. Do I need to look for shop lights with reflectors, or can they be without them? Should I paint the inside of my hood with white paint?


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

dm800 said:


> I think I will go by the store tomorrow and look at the fixtures. Do I need to look for shop lights with reflectors, or can they be without them? Should I paint the inside of my hood with white paint?


I bought the standard aquarium light fixtures for my tanks (the tanks have a plain glass cover that fits inside the frame and then the light fixture (which could by anything) sits above. They hold two fluorescent tubes, and are white inside. I like this arrangement because I can replace the light fixture should I need/want to, and the tank glass cover stays as is regardless.


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

So are you saying you just have yours sitting on top of the glass, or are they mounted at the underside of the canopy? I do have a glass top as well and will be building a canopy. I noticed at the store, some fixtures just hold the tubes and have no reflectors, while some have a reflector on them.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

dm800 said:


> So are you saying you just have yours sitting on top of the glass, or are they mounted at the underside of the canopy? I do have a glass top as well and will be building a canopy. I noticed at the store, some fixtures just hold the tubes and have no reflectors, while some have a reflector on them.


I don't have a canopy, the light fixture sits across the tank (it is designed to just fit the tank length and is black like the tank frame so it looks pretty good to me) and can slide front to back. You can sort of see it in the photo of my 90g tank. The fixture on the 70g is a 5-foot, the tank is 4-foot, so it extends 6 inches over each end [I'm using the fixture from my 5-foot 115g which is empty because the old fixture for the 70g has a problem and rather than spend money to replace it I'm using the other until such time as i set the 115g up].

Mine are just white inside, but that does reflect light, but not as much as if they were metallic.

I';ve never bothered with a canopy, even back when the tanks were in the livingroom. There is the heat issue (all lights produce heat to varying degrees, holes in the canopy would presumably help in this), but I have never been bothered by the clean look of the tanks.


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

I checked out Lowe's and found some 3 foot T12 single strip fixtures for $12 a piece. They have no reflectors, but I suppose painting the canopy white would help. I bought a GE Daylight (6500K) tube there too just to try out in my fixture I have to see what it looks like, and I did not really like the color of it. I put the 15w fixture from my 10 gallon over it just to see what the color of the light looked like, and I liked that a lot better. It doesnt say what the color temp is on it, it just says All Glass aquarium bulb on it. But looking at them both on, that one looks a little more bluer/purplish than the GE Daylight bulb. If I get 3 of those fixtures, I am at 90 watts. I called that AH company in regards to that fixture I posted just to find out about it. He seemed pretty knowledgeable about growing plants and about CO2 and nutrients, etc, and said that 96 has been used in 50 watts and althought plants would grow better with CO2, it is not necessary for that amount of lighting. He also said if my canpy is open backed, that there should be enough venilation that I won't need a fan. And I can even mount the balast to the outside of the back of the canopy if I wanted to. He even gave me ideas on how to build a canopy. They have bulbs in 6700k and 10000k, and I explained to him I don't want the yellow tinge and he said 10,000 would probably be beste then. So I don't know what to do now. He was very helpful and seemed knowledgable. Ahhhhh why does this have to be so complicated?!?!?!


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

dm800 said:


> I checked out Lowe's and found some 3 foot T12 single strip fixtures for $12 a piece. They have no reflectors, but I suppose painting the canopy white would help. I bought a GE Daylight (6500K) tube there too just to try out in my fixture I have to see what it looks like, and I did not really like the color of it. I put the 15w fixture from my 10 gallon over it just to see what the color of the light looked like, and I liked that a lot better. It doesnt say what the color temp is on it, it just says All Glass aquarium bulb on it. But looking at them both on, that one looks a little more bluer/purplish than the GE Daylight bulb. If I get 3 of those fixtures, I am at 90 watts. I called that AH company in regards to that fixture I posted just to find out about it. He seemed pretty knowledgeable about growing plants and about CO2 and nutrients, etc, and said that 96 has been used in 50 watts and althought plants would grow better with CO2, it is not necessary for that amount of lighting. He also said if my canpy is open backed, that there should be enough venilation that I won't need a fan. And I can even mount the balast to the outside of the back of the canopy if I wanted to. He even gave me ideas on how to build a canopy. They have bulbs in 6700k and 10000k, and I explained to him I don't want the yellow tinge and he said 10,000 would probably be beste then. So I don't know what to do now. He was very helpful and seemed knowledgable. Ahhhhh why does this have to be so complicated?!?!?!


One good thing is that the fellow at AH does seem to have some knowledge of planted aquaria from what he told you. I would keep two things separate here, first is deciding on what to build in the canopy, and second is what type of bulbs once built. 

Bulbs all come in the same standard lengths so you can decide on the type of bulb that you prefer once the canopy is ready. Full spectrum is the most natural-looking light for planted aquaria. But the nice thing about having two tubes over the tank is being able to mix them. Ask when you buy them if you can return it for something else (assuming they have something else). Home Depot will do this, and if you have a lfs that knows you they probably will too, after all they want you to be satisfied and stay with them. The bulbs that MBilyeu mentioned have 3 or maybe 4 types suitable for freshwater plant tanks.


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## jm667 (Mar 7, 2009)

I have another idea now. I am thinking maybe I will just buy a ballast and endcaps at Home Depot or wherever, and mount them in the canopy. Then I can use T5 lights, or T8s, and do whatever I want with them. T5's would be nice because then I can probably make the canopy a little shorter which I like the looks of, and it would probably be a lot cheaper too. And to limit the amount of light, I could just paint the canopy white rather than putting reflectors.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

jm667 said:


> I have another idea now. I am thinking maybe I will just buy a ballast and endcaps at Home Depot or wherever, and mount them in the canopy. Then I can use T5 lights, or T8s, and do whatever I want with them. T5's would be nice because then I can probably make the canopy a little shorter which I like the looks of, and it would probably be a lot cheaper too. And to limit the amount of light, I could just paint the canopy white rather than putting reflectors.


I think that's a good idea. And we'll be looking forward to photos of the finished set-up. Byron.


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

Ok I bought the balast and endcaps today and think I will go with T8's because I didn't see any T5 ballasts, and I have plenty of room for these. Anyways, I will get photos when I finish this, maybe by next weekend because I am busy this week. But while I was at Petco today, I looked at their bulbs and the only 36" ones they had was an All Glass 8000k and a couple others, one was a 50/50 or something like that, and the other was 10,000k. I went and bought the All Glass one and tried it in my light fixture and I think that light looks good in there. Especially with one more tube then it will cover from front to back well. Is that a good bulb for plant growth, or should I order one of those you guys mentioned, or try to look for it at other stores? Or maybe mix two different types of bulbs together?


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

dm800 said:


> Ok I bought the balast and endcaps today and think I will go with T8's because I didn't see any T5 ballasts, and I have plenty of room for these. Anyways, I will get photos when I finish this, maybe by next weekend because I am busy this week. But while I was at Petco today, I looked at their bulbs and the only 36" ones they had was an All Glass 8000k and a couple others, one was a 50/50 or something like that, and the other was 10,000k. I went and bought the All Glass one and tried it in my light fixture and I think that light looks good in there. Especially with one more tube then it will cover from front to back well. Is that a good bulb for plant growth, or should I order one of those you guys mentioned, or try to look for it at other stores? Or maybe mix two different types of bulbs together?


I've no idea what "All Glass" means in terms of the type of light. 8000K is certainly OK for strength. But without knowing what light spectrum is in this "all glass" it's impossible to say if it is good for plants or not. As I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, plants need mostly blue and then red light, and we usually balance this "ghostly" look by adding some yellow/green to make the plant and fish colours look natural. Sometimes there is a graph on the fluorescent tube package that shows the light spectrum and the peaks for the bulb; Hagen do this with the "...-Glo" series of bulbs so its easier to know what you're getting.


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

All Glass is the brand. Here is the light Fluorescent Aquarium Lighting: All-Glass Fluorescent Bulbs


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

dm800 said:


> All Glass is the brand. Here is the light Fluorescent Aquarium Lighting: All-Glass Fluorescent Bulbs


This looks fairly good to me. If you go to the site you link, and click the "More Information" tab there, you'll see a spectrum graph; this is the important info you want to know about. According to the graph, this tube emits strongest in the blue, red and yellow/green. I tried to find similar graphs online for other bulbs to compare, but time isn't enough so you might want to search yourself. But I have compared this graph with those on the packages for the tubes I have, and they are very similar. Therefore I would say this is along the lines of what works best for a planted tank. Blue is the prime colour plants need, then red; the yellow/green gives the natural look to balance. 

I have the Hagen Life-Glo tube and a Daylight Deluxe on my 70g, and Zoo-Med's Tropic Sun tube and Lightning Rod T6 Superlux on my 90g. This latter tube is new to me, it is a 48" 40w tube but it emits 11,000K of light which is almost double most similar full spectrum tubes, and it is a bit more in the blue (the plants need that) so I balance it with the Tropic Sun that is 5500K and more red/yellow/green than the Lightning Rod. Individually I can clearly see a difference, but lit together they blend well. I tried the Lightning Rod because it says it has extra power to emit blue light deeper into water, and at 11000K it should. After 7+ months of these tubes on both tanks, the plants are thriving as you can see in my photos.

If you can find your tubes at a lfs that knows you, ask them if you can return them for exchange. Trying them over your tank is the only way to be satisfied, and it is for you to be happy with the look. But in my opinion I think you're on the right track with the All Glass brand.


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## dm800 (Nov 3, 2007)

Thank you for all your help Byron. I have learned alot about lighting from you.


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