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Arcadia OT2 Freshwater 4x39W T5 900mm - opinions

? what lighting have you missed a link :) silly me its in the thread title :) well i make that around 3ish watts per gall so its in the right region for a high tech setup :)
 
You'll find 2 tubes plenty especially if you're new to this. I ran a single 54wt5 over my 120x45x45 to give you an idea of how little you actually need. To much light = massive headache
 
Wouldn't be better to have a bigger unit and just pull out one or two tubes if needed? I wouldn't like to find out in the future that my light unit needs replacing. Thanks for reply.
 
Your call,
You'll never need that much light but if you're trying to grow out a scape in a very short space of time you may want that amount of light. The thing you need to understand as a beginner is there are a lot of pitfalls and too much light is the easiest to avoid. That will allow you to focus on getting your co2 and its distribution right which is probably the hardest to get right.
 
I've used the 800mm version for a year on my planted tank and it was great. Might be OTT though, as most of the time I just ran 2 of the 4 bulbs, with a boosty with all 4 for 2/3 hours at midday. It's a serious amount of light so you'll need serious CO2 and fertiliser.
 
Thank you for explaining it to me. I've got a lot of time so it's no rush with anything. I'll just have to find different light unit.
 
These are great units. You have 2 plugs so you can run 2 or all 4 bulbs or have a midday burst. Used several of these and still using 1 unit.
 
I'm just getting really confused. As I read in some posts that for planted tanks I need min 3w per gallon. Saying that my tank will contain nearly 50 gallons so I should have like min 150w. Out of 2 tubes I would only get 80w which is why it gives me headache ;) Possibly it'll take me a while before I will decide what to buy.
 
3wpg is a bit of an american subscription, they love loads of light and if your follow a US forum they have a lot more light related headaches. CO2 is the key not light. The OT2 would future proof you as a far as if you want more light in the future but 2x39w on a 90cm is plenty and youll still have some headaches while you learn to grow plants. Less light = less stress.
 
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