# 80 X 45 X 45 Lighting Questions



## lemw (8 Sep 2015)

I'm going to be purchasing a 80 x 45 x 45cm, rimless, 162 litre / 35.6 gallon tank in the next couple of weeks and I have a few questions regarding lighting options.

As a bit of background, I've only a 5 gallon low light tank in the past so I'm pretty new to this. I'm aiming to have a scape similar in style to 




(maybe too ambitious but I want to I've it a try) with either HC or Glosso carpet and will be using pressurised CO2, ei and ensuring adequate flow. I have read that these are often the limiting factors in growing carpets rather than lights but I also want to ensure lighting if sufficient.

I've been doing a fair bit if reading and (please correct me if I'm wrong) the following figures are roughly true:

LEDs
PAR 150+ = high lighting
PAR 50-150 = medium 
PAR 0-50 = low

T5 tubes
2+ WPG = high lighting
1-2 = medium lighting
0-1 = low lighting

I've been looking at a couple of options for both LED (preferred) and fluorescent and just wanted to double check a few things before I buy anything.

*LEDs*
LED wise I've been looking at the TMC Grobeam 600 - from that I can see these are 60cm in length with a PAR value of 35 at 40cm which seems way too low for what i'm looking for 
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/anyone-using-these-without-trouble.30700/

• are two if these sufficient to light the whole 80cm of the tank?
• would the light output from these be sufficient to grow a HC carpet?

*T5s*
From reading the high tech guide on this forum I noticed that the Arcadia luminare was recommended (4 x 24 watt bulbs). This would give me a WPG figure of 2.75.

The Arcadia luminare is, however, expensive. I've seen this at approximately £240 which is around £100 more than the GroBeam LED option previously mentioned ( I was under the impression that LEDs were the more expensive option to set up?) 

Cost wise the following applies for the above ideas:
1 watt unit at 15p
LEDs at 8 hours / day yearly running is £ 10.51.

T5s at 8 hours / day yearly running is £ 42.92 (plus approximately 40 for 4 replacement bulbs).

(I'd rather not use halides and would be willing to go up to around 250-300 for the right lighting unit although obviously if there a suitable option a bit lower I'd rather go for that).



*Basically my questions are:*
• Will 2 Grobeam 600s allow me to grow a HC carpet in a 80x45x45 tank?

• if no, do you have any recommendations on LEDs which would provide sufficient light?

• if LEDs are unlikely to provide enough light are there are cheaper options than the Arcadia luminaire which would hold 4 T5 tubes?


Thanks for your help


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