Re: [AquaticLife] Lighting suggestions please!

Hi Rachell,

It doesn't surprise me to hear from Dawn that the LED lighting is not all
it is cracked up to be. I've used LED lighting in non-fish applications &
found that it it almost always under performs to the manufacturer's claims
when compared to traditional lighting methods so it really doesn't surprise
me to hear from Dawn that the aquatic LED lighting is not all it is cracked
up to be. That said I do have some blue moonlight LEDs on my tank but their
only function is to look nice for a few hours between the main lights going
off & the tank in full darkness for the night.

Incandescent lighting can seriously increase the temperature of your tank
water, especially in small tank & when the lights are left on all day or en
for more than a few hours & this can cause a lot of problems for your fish.
In the case of Carps [& probably many other freshwater fish] they don't
need specific tank lighting at all & are quite happy in ambient room light.
You do need lights when you have live plants & this is where you need to
strike a balance between giving the plants light to grow nicely & not
heating up your water unnecessarily. I have 2 free-standing lighting units
on my tank each with a pair of 39" T5 bulbs. In each unit one bulb is a
regular while light & the other is a pink tropical light, I find this is
quite good to replicate the natural spectrum for my plants & also gives a
pleasant subtle cast to the tank rather than a harsh brightness. My lights
are set to come on early afternoon & go off at 10 in the evening, after
which the blue LEDs cut in for a further 3 hours until total darkness at
1am. The plants I have are Vallis, Hornwort & Anacharis-they all do well
with the ambient room light in the mornings together with the 8 hours
'sunlight' in the afternoon.

My tank is large enough to not be noticeably affected by the lights being
on & also T5s kick out less heat than comparable T8s, the only drawback is
they cost a little more but as I only change them once a year that is not a
big deal really.

John*<o)))<*


On 2 July 2013 21:01, rachell7 <rachell7@yahoo.com> wrote:

> **
>
>
> What do you use for lighting in your tank? My 10 gallon still has the
> original hood with incandescent light blubs which need replacing far more
> often then I like and do contribute to heating my tank, great in the winter
> but not so great in the summer when it's 112 outside! But with summer here,
> to keep the heat down, I borrowed the hood from a friend's empty 20 gallon
> tank that has florescent lights and I like it. So now I am thinking about
> changing to either the florescent or LED. Give me your opinion please! I
> believe Dawn you said you use the LEDs when I commented on your photos?
> Rachell
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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