what kinda lighting do you run?

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#1
ok I've been looking into lighting just out of curiosity. right now i'm running a zoomed 22 inch dual t5ho on the 20 gallon. and a coralife 48 inch dual t5ho fixture on my 55. I was kinda looking into LED but i looked at marineland and OMFG!!!!!!!! 200 bucks for my 20 gallon or 375 for my 55 gallon. thats WAY to rich for my blood. lol

So what kinda lighting do yall run on your tanks?
 

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
Jul 19, 2004
3,682
33
48
38
Cape Cod
#3
*My planted tank is not set up yet*
But I have a Finnex planted+ awaiting the setup. It has good reviews and is pretty cost effective. Finnex also makes the Fugeray and the Ray2, so you can choose what strength lighting you need.
 

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#7
I got the Dimmer kit ($30.00), Drives ($32.00-ish ea) and heat sink 6x20 ($30.00) form rapidled.com. Chine LED's in bulk packs of 100 for about $48.00 per each spectrum. Each of those drivers will power two strings of 14 LED's at 650mA, They have non-dimming drives for $15.00 that power 14 LED's as well. Oh, I got two 92mm fans from ebay but one would have worked, rapidled has this fan for $10.00.
 

Ninjouzata

Medium Fish
Mar 23, 2013
53
0
0
Georgia
#8
All of our tanks except for the 5g have Current USA Satellite LED+, no idea if they are considered good or not, think it depends how high the tank is you're using them on.
The plants we have are all low light so..yeah D:

Satellite Freshwater LED+ | Current-USA This has the PAR ratings and whatnot.

We got them for how bright they are, after having them on one tank the other tanks looked incredibly dark so we changed them all over :p
 

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exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#9
I've got some high light plants. thats all i got in my 20 gallon. hair grass and baby tears. 55 kinda needs fairly high light as well with the sword, hygrow, baby tears, and bacopa. I know alot of plants can grow in lower light but i like fast growth and lush growth. only thing i am missing is CO2. which one of these days i plan to get. that should make the tanks ROCK.
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#10
Ex, on my 55g I've got an Odyssea 48" twin tube T5HO. I have it for over a year and the plants I grow go nuts with it. It was $60 shipped to my door with 6500K lamps included.

On my new oscar and severum tank (75g), I mail ordered a 48" 6500K LED from AquaTraders. It has 72 0.5w LEDs for a total of 36w. It runs off a 24VDC transformer. Nice light, it was $69 shipped and the plants I float in that tank grow nicely. Problem is, a row of 3 LEDs stopped working after only a few weeks and AquaTraders is basically ridiculous to deal with. They won't be getting another dime of my money.

If I were in need of another 48" plant fixture, it would be another T5HO or even a good T8 fixture. For my needs, I refuse to spend $200-400 on a light.
 

exhumed07

Superstar Fish
Apr 30, 2006
1,774
0
36
Illinois
#11
well see thats the thing freshy. I'm not looking for a suppliment, I'm looking for a replacment. I'm running alot out of one outlet and i'm looking to lessen the load on my houses wiring lol. but from what i have seen so far it's just to expensive right now. I've just spent 500 on my truck and probably another grand or so on it in a couple months. don't think i'll be finding a deal of a lifetime on LED aquarium lighting lol
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#12
Ex, I wouldn't completely discount a BeamsWork fixture like the one I bought. It's INSANELY bright and relatively high wattage for an inexpensive 6500K LED fixture intended for plants. It does get very warm, but night quite as much as a 48" twin tube T5HO. Plus, only 36watts being consumed as opposed to ~110watts with a 2-tube T5HO. Either way and regardless of what people think, that's not a lot of watts and extremely low amperage, so your outlet, power strip, etc.. wouldn't feel the difference. Here's my Aquatraders BeamsWork 6500K 48" LED. I think I called it 24VDC above. It's actually 15VDC :