Lighting Input

Well, after buying some plants at the Tom Barr talk a couple weeks ago and doing some online reading I am now planning to redo my whole tank so I can do a planted tank. I have been doing reading about proper lighting and seem to get more confused the more I read. There are so many types of light I'm not even sure how to compare them. For instance

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or
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I have a 30 gallon tank, not planning to do C02, but would like enough light to have a range of options for plants.
Any input on leds vs. tubes?
Would the links above be a good choice or is there a better choice?
Also anyone know the best place to buy lights either on or offline?
Cafman

T5 is the way to go. Its a little more spendy then cfls but the output is better. I don't run them because I already had cfls from my old reef. Also if I was you I would use co2 jimmy has a full setup for 100 dollars. I am using a diy system and it works fine but you don't have much control. I plan on going to a system in a few months. Good luck.

If you buy florescent light tubes make sure that they are 5500k and up but no more then 8500k high intensity full spectrum daylight lamp and CRI rating of 90% and up.

The more I read, I'm leaning toward the leds. Cheap operation, good light. Is there a down side to the leds?

I got these lights... really super cheap... and great!!

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The bigest downside to leds as far as I know is the price tag. I haven't looked at them since they were brand new for aquariums but they were retarded expensive then. If the price has come down and you want to try them, I would love to here how all goes.

Marineland has an affordable LED fixture that is pretty nice. I think it's about $135 for a fixture that fits 36"-48" tanks.

cafman wrote:The more I read, I'm leaning toward the leds. Cheap operation, good light. Is there a down side to the leds?

If the LED burnt out how are you going to replace it?
With florescent light just get the new tube.

Daniil wrote:

cafman wrote:The more I read, I'm leaning toward the leds. Cheap operation, good light. Is there a down side to the leds?

If the LED burnt out how are you going to replace it?
With florescent light just get the new tube.

what in 10years? most will last that long if not longer and same light output as day one no fade off over time

Just a heads up, I picked up an Odyssea 24" fixture yesterday, 2 daylight, 2 actinic ands 4 moonlight LED's for $110 at Aquarist World. It has 3 power cords and 3 switches so you can put each light set on a timer for your set up. So far, the fixture is awesome.

Between your 2 options I would choose the T5 light. The LED light is nice but I'm not sure that is designed for planted tanks(blue LED are useless, lack of information about the light spectrum-colour temperature, probably low light output-this may be OK since you don't plan to use CO2).But there ar a lot of options on line, spyral offer you one option, but you can find Odyssea lighting cheaper on ebay. I would do some more shopping
You need to keep in mind that if you don't use CO2 you are limited to low maybe moderate light(1-2 W/gallon) otherwise you will grow algae. The spectrum is also very important, you need to have a full spectrum light. Look for lights with colour temperature around 6500K and high CRI(higher than 85).What plants did you buy at GSAS auction?

you can def find Odyssea lights cheaper, but I am one of those impulse people..lol..got to have what I want as soon as I want it..lol

I got one pack of the plants that tom barr brought. I also want to add some dwarf harigrass. I figure I'll pick up a few plants at the few gsas meetings I can make it to.

Currently I am planning to not have CO2 but I'll probably get bit by that bug too. Five months ago when I was setting up my tank I said I wasn't going to do live plants either.

Spyral, nothing personal it was just an advice for cafman.
I have 2 Odyssea fixtures more than 2 years old. Both have CFL 2x65W 6500K and 2x65 special for plants(pink and blue tubes). each fixture is over a 55gal "plants depot", and yes I use CO2. These fixture are nice and cheap but not very reliable(ballast, switches fail).
On my discus tank 75gal I use 3x36W 6500K T8. These tubes are extended life they said will have at least 95% light output after more than 50month. And are way cheaper than T5 or CFL. I think I've posted pictures of this tank here. And CO2.
Over my 10gal tank I use 2x10W CFL 5500K screw type bought from Walmart. And CO2. Lot of Dwarf Hair Grass(Eleocharis parvula) in this tank.
I used LED lights the square fixture 1'x1' 225 white LED 14W total. I choose this because they said is daylight, 6500K. Only 26$ including shipping from ebay.
Cafman if you bought Echinodorus vesuvius will be probably OK without CO2(low to medium light), but it's better if you have fertile substrate with a lot of iron. I have this plant in different light condition(low in discus tank or high in the 55gal tanks). If you bought Staurogyne you may need CO2. I have the plant in low-medium light but with CO2. No Co2 or high light =small survival chances.