[Dirty_Pond]

Hi All,

I have my 65gT ready to go. But I don't have any lights for tha aquarium yet. So can you guys guide me towards what kind of lighting i need. I am setting up a planted aquarium with (hopefully) lots of plants.

Thanks.

P.S. Currently the tank doesn't have any top on it either. Any ideas about that would be helpful. I am thinking of either plexiglass or glass sheets and the the lights on top of that for the time being before I can get enough time to actually build a real top.

 

[Dirty_Pond]

That makes sense. But what about the lights themselves?
My main issues is plants. I will probably be putting in fish sometime after my plants are well settled.

 

[Oldman]

A lot depends on the plants that interest you. If you start with easy care plants and no CO2 or artificial fertilizers, a fixture that pushes in the vicinity of 100 to 130 watts would be a good choice. I picked up a T5HO that has 108 watts for a tank about that size. There are lots of places on line to get a light fixture but I got mine here.

 

[Dirty_Pond]

Is there a cheaper alternative to these. Like getting similar lights from home depot ot lowe's or some where like that. I am short on money and just spent alot on getting all the basic equipment.

Also, I have been reading other posts and trying to understand what's up with the tmperature of the lights. Some people have been talking about 7K or 14K lights. What does that mean?

Also do I need the Halide lights also?

Sorry if these questions sound too basic. I am utterly new to this hobby and just don' want to make stupid mistakes by going at it without asking.

 

[JIM]

The light spectrum is just as important as wattage. Plants require a certain range of color, in the light to produce to their best. Thats why you see gro-light bulbs, You might take a look at lowes, etc. at a pendulum fixture and put a gro-light spot or flood in it.

 

[Oldman]

On a low light planted tank I have a 2 bulb electronic ballast fixture that I got from a home improvement center. It has 2 36 watt T-8 tubes and produces about as much light as 80 watts of T-12. I estimate that it only produces half as much light as my 108 watt T-5 although the wattage is well over half. The thinner tubes do put more light into the tank than the fatter tubes and are often more efficient when it comes to the amount of light they produce for reach watt. If you stay with low light plants, a shop fixture will work fine and will be just right for a 4 foot long tank. It will limit what plants you can grow but they will grow.

 

[Dirty_Pond]

I am getting mix of low an high light plants