# What lights?



## t-bore (Apr 21, 2010)

What kind of lights would I need on a 125G, 6 foot long tank? I will grow pink ammania, rotalla, amazon sword, dwarf hair grass, marimo balls. I will be EI dosing and injecting co2. Thanks in advance for the info.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

You want to grow dwarf hairgrass with cichlids and a big pleco in the tank? Or will you be changing the livestock?

I essentially have your setup in my 125 and run 4 banks of 36" NO T5 Coralife, but no red plants and no carpet plants. If money were no object, I'd go halides (3x150) or 2x36" 4 bulb Teks.


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## t-bore (Apr 21, 2010)

I will be changing livestock! I am debating on selling the fish in the 125G and converting it to planted and move the fish in my 50G to the 125G and sell the 50G.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Get the Teks. You can turn on and off the lights by banks of 2. Pricey though, and the main reason why I haven't done it yet. Or build a canopy and retrofit the Hagen Glor or Sunlight supply T5HO's into it. Y4 of these: Hagen GLO T5 Electronic Flourescent Lighting System (2-24W/2-39W)


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Another cost effective solution would be the lights by FishNeedIt. Shawn (Nicklefire) swears by these fixtures and the pricing includes bulbs and you can choose the type/spectrum of bulbs included. My next lighting purchase will be coming from these guys. Hopefully this helps.

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Ah right. Stuart is right. I was only thinking of local sources. If you want to mail order, Catalina also makes great lights. They can custom make any setup you need.


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## t-bore (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks for all the info! I have 96W on my 50G now so I basically need 250 watts on the 125G tank right?


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## target (Apr 21, 2010)

I am going with the GLO retrofits Gary posted the link for. 4x54w on my 90g. should be enough light


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

t-bore said:


> Thanks for all the info! I have 96W on my 50G now so I basically need 250 watts on the 125G tank right?


With 250 watts of T5HO in a standard 125, you can basically grow anything you want, as long as it doesn't get shaded by plants above it.


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## t-bore (Apr 21, 2010)

I had a brain storm last night. I have a 2x96w coralife fixture currently on my 50G which I only use one bulb of. If i buy one more of those then I should be set. Both 3 foot fixtures to cover the whole 125G tank. Set 2 bulbs for the 8 hour period and the other 2 bulbs on for a 3 hour period in the middle. This should work, right? I think?? I will just have to change all the gravel over to flourite.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

It should, but you'll have to vigilant of the photoperiod when all 4 are all, as 400 watts in that tank could quickly lead to algae problems. I've grown E. tenellus in plain gravel but not very well, but I'm not sure about hairgrass.


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## 4ptbuck (May 8, 2010)

I've got a 6' 150g. 72" VHOs are the way to go. 160W per tube.
Workhorse 7 ballast, standard T12 end caps, and a tube.


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## Bien Lim (Apr 21, 2010)

if u like and good on putting stuff together retro fit is a great choice and its a bit cheaper. but if u dont want the hassle and have a bit money for the project there r a lot of fixture that r really good. catalina, hagen glo,, but my fav is the tek lights.


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## t-bore (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the info, now i have research and a descision to make!


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## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

The bigger the tank, the less wpg plays into the equation. 

I have been using HO T5 with great results for the last few years. I went from 4x 55 watt PC to 3x 54w HO T5 over the 75g. retrofitted with workhorse 7 ballast, water proof T5 end caps. No reason to use more light than needed for a planted tank unless I want to prune every week to sell.

The bulbs I have on there are 3xGE Starcoat 6500k. I am going to be switching one out for Philips 3000k in favor of more red spectrum. From looking at the color spectrum chart, Philips 3000k are similar to the giesemann HO T5 midday bulbs.

The nice thing is, JLAquatics now has the double water proof end cap. I had to use single water proof end cap and was a challenge squeezing 3 of those under the reflector. The base are quite big on the T5 End caps and the photos doesn't do them justice for size.


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