75 Gallon Lighting Guidance

S

skanda

Members
I have a 75 Gallon tank with Haps and am not completely happy with the lighting. Currenlty I have T5 dual bulb aquaeon 48" light strip which is more suited for planted tanks.

Which lights can I used to bring out the colors in tmy cichlids? Would regular T8 shop lights do the trick or do I need LED bulbs?

Any feedback would wonderful
 
verbal

verbal

CCA Members
You might want to give the modular LEDs from Aqueon a shot. They aren't cheap, but you can play around with the modules to get the colors mix/level that you want.
 
cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
Ues zoo med makes every spectrum under and including the sun.
Flora= red
Ultra=full spectrum
Coral=blue/actinic
10k= white
50/50= half blue half 10k
They cost about 20bucks a pop but imo give the best color for fluorescent.

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B

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Andrew and Dan hit the nail on the head. No need for a new fixture, just find a combination of bulbs that looks good to you. Personally, I go with a midday/red combo.

Blaise
 
E

ezrk

Members
May be more light than you want, but we really like using Zoo med:

Flora (5k looks pink on its own)
Daylight 6.7k
Ocean Sun 10k

As a combo on T5HO triple fixtures.
 
cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
I use the ultrasun,10k, coralsun, makes Africans look great imo led is still far better so many options and the lightning storm feature is so cool as well as sunrise, cloudy, sun to cloud loop, sun to cloud to storm......and every other combo you could ever wish for you can also adjust the red blue green white to whatever your in the mood for at any given second. As far as fluorescent zoo med is by far the best

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QuarterMiler

QuarterMiler

Members
I have the Aqueon Modular LED on my 72g bowfront. I am utilizing all 3 slots and it does OK, but I wish it were a tad brighter. Could be the black substrate and background hurting it in that respect. But I recently picked up the Current Satellite LED plus from Kens and I think it's great. I have it over my 125, and although the ends are slightly dark, the light penetrates the full depth of the tank. On a 75 it would be great. Plus you have the ability to tailor the lighting to whatever you like and use the different effects. IMO, it's the type of fixture a lot of freshwater people have been waiting for. The only thing missing is a built in timer, but I wouldn't be surprised if one came out in the future. Here's the link:

http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-su...satellite-plus-freshwater-led-48-60-inch.html
 
Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
When I was keeping africans, I had a 48" twin-tube florescent fixture. I used one Hagan Power Glo bulb and one Hagan Life Glo bulb. I would assume that the T5ho versions would look just as great.
 
scientist0724

scientist0724

Members
QuarterMiler said:
But I recently picked up the Current Satellite LED plus from Kens and I think it's great. I have it over my 125, and although the ends are slightly dark, the light penetrates the full depth of the tank. On a 75 it would be great. Plus you have the ability to tailor the lighting to whatever you like and use the different effects. IMO, it's the type of fixture a lot of freshwater people have been waiting for. The only thing missing is a built in timer, but I wouldn't be surprised if one came out in the future. Here's
Click to expand...

They do have a timer now. You can read about Kris Weinhold's review on his blog: http://www.guitarfish.org/2013/11/10/review-current-usa-ramp-timer

Arlene
 
AquaStudent

AquaStudent

CCA Members
I have always wanted to experiment with 10,000K and higher spectrum bulbs on my cichlid tank. They seem to do reefers well so why not the salt water fish of freshwater?

You can also build an LED fixture but it'll run you a couple hundred dollars. You'll be able to trick it out with adjustable colors, brightness, and the sorts. It's definitely a fun project and if you don't know much electronics you'll learn quite a bit in the process.
 
Hawkman2000

Hawkman2000

Members
cichlidaddicted said:
Ues zoo med makes every spectrum under and including the sun.
Flora= red
Ultra=full spectrum
Coral=blue/actinic
10k= white
50/50= half blue half 10k
They cost about 20bucks a pop but imo give the best color for fluorescent.

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Click to expand...

Zoo med 50/50 bulbs are 6500k/460 actinic (Reef Sun). Coralife 50/50 are 10000k/460 actinic. I like the zoomed much better for freshwater, unless you mix it with a 6500k. I am currently using a zoomed reef sun on one of my tanks and it looks great.
 
cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
Hawkman2000 said:
Zoo med 50/50 bulbs are 6500k/460 actinic (Reef Sun). Coralife 50/50 are 10000k/460 actinic. I like the zoomed much better for freshwater, unless you mix it with a 6500k. I am currently using a zoomed reef sun on one of my tanks and it looks great.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected! The zoo med are however 6500/420

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neut

neut

Members
+1 that bulb selection makes all the difference. The thing with bulbs is there's more to it than simple K rating, since different bulbs with the same overall K temperature can have peaks at different points in the spectrum, so they can look different.

Some examples of different looks from different bulbs here.

You can also do a simple DIY to change lighting color somewhat without necessarily having to buy new bulbs by adding a bit of paint to your glass tops (lightly enough to see through).
 
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