Opinion on Lights

[SnowJob]

Just curious what folks are using for lights on their big tanks.....100gal+

The plants I want to keep need on average 2 to 3 watts per gallon.

On a 125gal, that's up to 375watts needed.........flu compact strip by coralife is expensive.......halide I have no experience with...

How much should it cost me to properly light up a community tank for SA fishes.....with planty of plants...

Thanks in advance for your opinions...

[Seanc]

I am just seting up a 120, planted, high light, SA tank aswell. I have 2 175 watt metal halides. I got them for a realy good price too. But usualy the lighting will be upwards of $150 for 2-3 WPG. I would check out T5, and compact flourecents. Bigdady has some balasts for a good price right now too, and I have one more 175W metal halide left if your interested.

[BigDaddy]

First off, don't forget that the WPG rule breaks down on very small and very large tanks.

You don't "need" 400 W of light to get the equivalent of 3 WPG on a 125 gallon tank.

T5's are an affordable option in your case.  Your tank is only 24 inches high, you'll get good light penetration with the T5 bulbs.

Depending on if you are planning CO2 or not, I'd go with 4 to 6 T5 HO 54W bulbs

[SnowJob]

The lunar effect thing with blue lights, is that only for sw aquariums or can a fresh water tank have them too? It looks pretty cool!

Back to the regular light stuff, with a standard 125 gal tank, thinking planted but with discuss in it.......should I consider compact or not......it's the whole plant need lights VS discuss enjoy low light thing........what should be the WPG rule on a 125 gal......how about a small 10gal tank........curious really...

Anyone manage to have both in tank and do well........what lighting do you use?

Thanks again!

[Seanc]

I'm going to try the high light discus thing, just geting the discus all rounded up at the moment. I have heard of people having to sell their discus because their was to much light, I'm not sure how much light their was, but the tank didn't have many shaded or dark spots.

[BigDaddy]

I have 196 Watts over my 65 gallon... and my discus are just fine.

Loyed (ottawadiscus) has over 300 W, maybe 400,  over his 220 and his discus don't care.  Never mind about the WPG rule... 300 Watts is pretty bright light.

It's not like they are vampires or something... they do just fine in well lit tanks.

[Mettle]

I've seen a lot of discus tanks with high light over them. You can also grow your plants in such a way as to provide cover if the fish choose to seek it. I saw one really nice tank that had a section of Vals over crown and arching forward to provide a shaded refuge, looked quite nice.

There's definitely ways around it.

And as BigDaddy said - they're not vampires.