New Light for 30gal

So my 17w T8 24" light just blew out today, no surprise as I've had it forever. But I was wondering, what would be the ideal type of light to put on this tank for plant growth or fish color? I would prefer something not incredibly expensive, but something better than what I had! Any ideas?

How much you looking to spend? LED?

These guys are affordable....
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DMD123 wrote:How much you looking to spend? LED?

These guys are affordable....
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So far this is the best I could find at Kens:
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I would like LED, but is it worth it without having different light spectrums?
T5 sounds like it would be a good idea as well, but will that also cause algae growth?

I really have no idea when it comes to lighting. Everything I have came with the tanks. lol
Edit: Needs to be 30" long for my 30gal

CrazedAce wrote:I would like LED, but is it worth it without having different light spectrums?

I started converting my tanks to LED primarily for energy efficiency & the smaller sleek designs.  Once you figure out the application your using the lighting for choosing the type is simple. No plants FW,  planted tank FW,  reef,  FOWLR, ect.

Also, there is modular LED fixtures on the market that allows you to change "spectrums" of LED lighting within one fixture.

CrazedAce wrote:
T5 sounds like it would be a good idea as well, but will that also cause algae growth?

If you want something comparable to your T8 fixture but want T5 for better efficiency perhaps choose a standard T5 & not T5HO . There is a difference.

CrazedAce wrote:
I really have no idea when it comes to lighting. Everything I have came with the tanks. lol
Edit: Needs to be 30" long for my 30gal

1st choose the application. You can find comparable lighting output to your T8 fixture with any  CFL, T5, T2, & LED. All you would be doing is reducing power consumption and getting a sleeker design the more modern you go.

If you need more help with any lighting let us know what type tank you have. Like above; fish only, planted FW, reef, FOWLER, ECT...

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LED shimmer effect + plant growth, and this has perfect spectrum, and comes in Estimated between Tue. Oct. 1 and Mon. Oct.

I use coralife dual 30" T5HO fixtures over my 20g tanks and my 29g with 6700K bulbs.  They're the only company that makes 30" T5HO bulbs and fixtures - 31W each for a total of 62W.

But if you want the cheapest way to effectively light your planted aquarium and you don't care about aesthetics as much, consider 6500K CFL bulbs in 8" shop light reflectors.  The shop lights themselves are about $6 each and the bulbs aren't terribly expensive.  You could setup 3 lamps over a 30" tank with 23W bulbs for a total of 66W if you like, or go with 2 for 46W, or 3 13W bulbs for 39W.  Lowes sells sylvania brand 13W and 23W 6500K CFL bulbs in 2-packs (but nothing in between...).  I use their 13w bulbs over my 10g tanks - in perfecto incandescent fixtures indoors and shop lights in the garage.

The color is important - 6500K - 7000K is best for a planted tank.

fishNAbowl wrote:Also, there is modular LED fixtures on the market that allows you to change "spectrums" of LED lighting within one fixture.

Aqueon, actually advertises their set up for that purpose. I got a used fixture with a tank I purchased and it is nice but NOT designed for plants. It does have a nice colormax to add for fish only tanks. While it does have three slots for different spectrum's it just is not a high output fixture. And by the time you are done buying two extra tubes, your fixture will become outrageously expensive.

So I bought a new bulb for my hood at Petco tonight, deciding that I would just do a simple fix on getting the lighting back. Unfortunately for me, the hood isn't working. I took it apart and tried to see if there were any indications of where it may be screwed up, but there was nothing. I even took the ballast apart and couldn't see/smell anything wrong. So now I am stuck having to replace it all anyways.

I like the idea of using the CFL bulbs, but I've tried this on my 10gal tanks before and it produced WAY too much algae. Not to mention the 10gal I've been battle black hair algae with was impossible to control. So it would be a chance I could take on my heavily planted tanks, but not on the Africans.

And I like the thought of LED but it seems too dim. Perhaps I am too picky in choosing what I want. Maybe I'll just buy another hood. :/

What CFL bulb wattage and color did you use over your 10g tanks?

Here is an easy diy to fix your current light fixture. There is another I liked that was very cheap as well, and came out looking pretty good imo.
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I use 23 watt 6500k spiral cfls x2 on my avatar tank. At lowes they are $8 a 2 pack. But those are for growing plants. You could get a different spectrum if you don't have plants.

CrazedAce wrote:So I bought a new bulb for my hood at Petco tonight, deciding that I would just do a simple fix on getting the lighting back. Unfortunately for me, the hood isn't working. I took it apart and tried to see if there were any indications of where it may be screwed up, but there was nothing. I even took the ballast apart and couldn't see/smell anything wrong. So now I am stuck having to replace it all anyways.

I like the idea of using the CFL bulbs, but I've tried this on my 10gal tanks before and it produced WAY too much algae. Not to mention the 10gal I've been battle black hair algae with was impossible to control. So it would be a chance I could take on my heavily planted tanks, but not on the Africans.

And I like the thought of LED but it seems too dim. Perhaps I am too picky in choosing what I want. Maybe I'll just buy another hood. :/

I totally understand what you mean by being "picky". There is nothing worse in spending $100's and not being satisfied. I spent months researching LED fixtures before starting to convert.

pbmax wrote:I use coralife dual 30" T5HO fixtures over my 20g tanks and my 29g with 6700K bulbs.  They're the only company that makes 30" T5HO bulbs and fixtures - 31W each for a total of 62W.

The color is important - 6500K - 7000K is best for a planted tank.  

I also used a 30" duel T5HO (6,700K) on my 29 gallon before converting to FENNEX RAY2 LED, it worked real well!

I used 2x 10w 600lumens CFL bulbs. They don't say what spectrum, nor can I even find them on the company's website. I got them at Walmart in the fish section. Basic screw in type.

Did some browsing on Amazon and found these two:
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I'd love the FugeRay, but $80 is pretty pricey. The Coralife sounds good as well, but do all dual T5 need cooling fans? Seems like it would use quite a bit more power than the LED. So going with the FugeRay would be cheaper in the long run.

The wrong spectrum can encourage algae growth, as I understand it. 20w of light over a 10g isn't all that much, but if it's very sparsely planted and your plants aren't getting the proper nutrients then they'll have trouble competing with algae.

My cleanest tank has 2x 13w Sylvania 6500K CFLs over it - zero algae growth on the plants that I can discern and I scrape the glass a couple of times a year.

I have 4 dual T5 fixtures, 3 of which are HO, and none of them require cooling fans. Maybe that one has a more compact design?

The thing I hate about LEDs is it's so hard to find useful information about how much light they put out. That said, I have the 12" fuge ray over my glosso terrarium and I got fantastic growth out of it.

So I think I am still leaning towards using the Aqueon Modular LED 30" from kensfish.com. It has a couple expansion slots so I will at least be able to upgrade it if I'm not satisfied right away. But now the question is, should I get a glass top for the tank? I've never seen Africans jump out of water, but I guess that doesn't mean they don't do it.

Looks like I need to save up some money and do another order from Kens! Anyone need anything? lol

Like I said before, I like the light but I dont think its enough for a planted tank.

Here was a Q & A from Petco and an answer from Aqueon itself.
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"Is this lighting system good for live plants, even if you buy 2 additional "colormax" strips?
I have a 29 gallon and I plan on adding low-light plants like java fern, Anubius, and Amazon sword"


"Answers
Thank you for your question Firestarter. Yes these would be good for low to moderate light plants as long as you have all three tubes in them and they are not over the top of an extra high tank (exp 15 Xhigh or 30 Xhigh), your 29g should be fine."

So your $54.95 fixture will need two more $14.95 tubes to be good for low to moderate light plants... You are now at $84.95, which seems kind of pricey and at that price might as well look at better lighting. Just my opinion, but I have fish only tanks so.... not the greatest input there.

 

The aqueon LEDs just aren't bright enough for planted tanks.

CrazedAce wrote:So my 17w T8 24" light just blew out today, no surprise as I've had it forever. But I was wondering, what would be the ideal type of light to put on this tank for plant growth or fish color? I would prefer something not incredibly expensive, but something better than what I had! Any ideas?

I've become partial to the FENNEX product for LED's . My experience is limited to 3 different manufactures but this line seems to work the best for me. They have product for both MAX COLOR enhancement for fish, and MAX PLANT GROWTH. All my FENNEX LED fixtures are designed for optimum plant growth. My fish look pretty good as well.

Finnex makes really good LED's, and they're not really that expensive when you factor in the energy savings, ease of use, and overall better performance than my experience with flourescent. I get hardly any excess algae (I have a rubberlip so some algae is desirable) and plants are starting to grow great. Floating plants like my cupped salvinia are growing awesomely being so close to that pure 7000k goodness

I really like mine, and I would have never thought of spending over $100 on lighting for a fish tank a few months ago, but I decided to go for it to avoid buying bulbs and all the other hassles. Also, I can keep my tank almost entirely open and I like how it looks (although I have lost 3 tank members to escape, but I think it's worth it. I might make my own hood at some point, but I do like being able to see my salvinia and other floating plants.)

In conclusion, I have been happy with LED lights, so I would recommend them. Go with something you know will fill your needs though, like others have said if you buy the Aqueon lights you will just have to supplement with flouro anyway to keep your plants happy.

Finnex makes Ray 2 which is good for plants, and also Monster Ray which makes fish look amazing!

Very good point on the fact that it will eventually cost me the same amount eventually. So does anyone know where the best/cheapest place to order Finnex is?

+1 on the Finnex LED's...Corry has them at the Co-Op and they get rave reviews! LED's will keep getting better and cheaper and I'm certain will put all other lights "currently out there", out of biz!

CrazedAce wrote:Very good point on the fact that it will eventually cost me the same amount eventually. So does anyone know where the best/cheapest place to order Finnex is?

eBay is the cheapest I've seen.

If you're going to go online I would price check for sure...I have Amazon Prime so I almost always go with them and the free shipping. Although Cory has them in his shop and it is nice to support your LFS..and it's great that you can see them in his tanks at his shop so you know what you're getting and see how it would work on your tank.

BallardFishGuy wrote:If you're going to go online I would price check for sure...I have Amazon Prime so I almost always go with them and the free shipping.  Although Cory has them in his shop and it is nice to support your LFS..and it's great that you can see them in his tanks at his shop so you know what you're getting and see how it would work on your tank.  

I second that! This exactly what I did. Cory uses these on his tanks, for a time I think he had all 3 different RAYs on display. I consulted, read about, then was able to see these fixtures in action.

I would say you would want Finnex Ray2 for a planted tank and Fuge Ray for fish only or lower light plants...if you go for them that is.

BallardFishGuy wrote:I would say you would want Finnex Ray2 for a planted tank and Fuge Ray for fish only or lower light plants...if you go for them that is.

& I think it's the MONSTER RAY that makes fish colors POP in a fish only tank!

Yes that sounds right, it has more colors in the LED that concentrates on color's "popping" rather than plants growing!

I've been looking at Finnex to replace the lights on my 75... someday....

I'm very happy with the 48" Ray2 and the 12" FugeRay I got from Cory.

Klaude wrote:I'm very happy with the 48" Ray2 and the 12" FugeRay I got from Cory.  

 

I have a 7 foot tank with 2X 4 foot duel T5HO, 1X 3', 2X 11" duel T5. This is a massively planted tank. Switching to LED will save 100's in my power bill a year in this tank alone. And the fact these fixtures are thinner I could technically ADD MORE LIGHT if I wish. So far I have replaced 1 4' and 1 of the 11" fixtures with RAY2. I would have to say these fixtures seem just a bit brighter than the T5HO I had...

What does everyone think of these?

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The only thing concerning me about these is the low lumens. Do you think it would suffice to grow medium light plants?

The first puts out half the light of a 13w CFL spiral bulb (800 lumens); the 2nd a little more than a single 13w CFL spiral bulb. Granted, the LED fixtures won't suffer the problem that spiral CFLs do (light being blocked by the other end of the spiral), so that cancels out some of the CFL's lumen output, but these seem to be pretty low light.

I use 2 13w CFLs over my 10g tanks with no CO2. I get some algae in a couple of the tanks, but the rest do really well.

Alright, I am just going to assume that LED SUCKS with plant growth. Just going to order some T5 HO fixtures.
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I think that should be adequate for what I am looking for.

CrazedAce wrote:Alright, I am just going to assume that LED SUCKS with plant growth. Just going to order some T5 HO fixtures.
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I think that should be adequate for what I am looking for.

Actually the best growth out there is by LED...but you have to get good quality ones, and it's a new and emerging tech so plenty of low quality ones.  Just like a regular old fashioned screw in light bulb wouldn't do much for you plants compared to a T5HO or Halide bulb.

Finnex 2 and you set for years!

I have been seeing that there are lighhts for aquariums that merely illuminate and others that are tune to the frequencies plants use. The latter are much more expensive. Must be one of the LEDs has an unusual dope (ingredient).

I agree with BallardFishGuy - don't punt just yet, just realize that often times you get what you pay for.  The finnex fixtures aren't as cheap, but they have proven track records and the ray 2 will definitely grow plants.  I'm putting some on my christmas list.

I personally won't be buying an more T5HO fixtures... LEDs are where it's at nowadays.

CrazedAce wrote:What does everyone think of these?
The only thing concerning me about these is the low lumens. Do you think it would suffice to grow medium light plants?

You will get what you pay for.

hyp3rcrav3 wrote:I have been seeing that there are lighhts for aquariums that merely illuminate and others that are tune to the frequencies plants use. The latter are much more expensive. Must be one of the LEDs has an unusual dope (ingredient).

Wherever there is a market you will find a company trying to cash in.
Planted
Non-planted
FOWLR
REEF
Quality
Economic (low budget)
Ect...

Low budget electronics use low budget components. These components will not last as long. With that I would question their claims of what their product is said to do & for how long. (Personal experience)

Quality: you know these manufactures researched & tested their lighting and use a higher quality component that is more than likely going to last longer & do what they claim the light will do...

I received my first LED aquarium light fixture today - a 20" Finnex Fuge Ray (not Ray2). I already have a 12" fuge ray I use over a terrarium, but this went over one of my 10g tanks. All of my tanks use fluorescent lights of some form, until today.

I'm pretty impressed with 20" Fuge Ray - it puts out noticeably more light than the dual 13w CFL fixtures I've been using over my 10g tanks at less than half the wattage. I was growing all sorts of low to medium light plants with the CFL fixtures; I imagine this will grow them even better. Right now it's on a tank with mostly subwassertang, but it has some ludwigia repends x arcuata in the back corners too.

I guess I should have posted an update as well. I got the lights a week or two ago. I decided to go with the ebay lights and I am impressed with 24" quad T5HO, it is extremely bright and I haven't noticed any decline in plant health yet. The val I have in there is sending off shoots as usual, so hey, it works!

The 48" dual T5HO is mildly satisfactory. It is actually too big for my 55gal tanks, and the mounting brackets are not what it shows in the pics. Other than that, it's fine. I just recently put it on a tank to let it cycle. Eventually I will be replacing one of the 6500k bulbs with an actinic to bring out the colors of my African cichlids I'll be putting in there.

Paid about $130 for both lights, so can't complain much.