One strong powerfull light in the middle or multiple less powerfull lights spread over the surface?

[Sanniejop]

Hi,
I was wonder what your opinion is on this?
I tend to think multiple weaker lights is nicer to view to and/or better for the plants and preventing algea right below the lights.
Let me know what you think.

Greetings from Holland

 

[PARAGUAY]

Probably best whether one light or several to have a controller, that way you can adjust the light to what is required, plants don't really care about cost many budget lights have controllers.

 

[Sanniejop]

I am for sure planning to use a controller. This to enjoy the view on the tank for most of the day.
Once I had build my own controller for 4 T5 tubes above my 70x50x50cm tank. It worked pretty well but the lifetime of the tubes became for some reason much shorter.

I am now looking to upgrade to a bigger tank and are orienting on which lighting to use.
I bumped in to the giesemann Pulzar G3 lights. They are very strong which i like for a short period of time over the day. I also used the 4 T5 tubes on 100% for a short period of time over the day.
Rest of the day I like to dim the lights which is also possible with the Pulzar. But when using it on 100% I am afraigt that the intensity just below the light is to high.
Is this a justified fear?

 

[hypnogogia]

I’m pretty sure that the gieseman light will distribute evenly across the surface are of the tank.

 

[Sanniejop]

I guess the diffusor will indeed help in this.

 

[Mortis]

If the tank is wider than 15 inches then I would definitely prefer two lower power fixtures over one higher powered fixture mounted at a height above the centre. Better coverage especially if you have plants or hardscape in the midground that would end up shading your carpet or shorter plants from getting sufficient light. Have experienced it on my current candybar fixture which has sufficient power but cannot get the light to places that it needs to reach. It replaced my old DIY light fixture that had a spread of LEDs covering the full surface.

 

[Sanniejop]

@Mortis ,
Well, in the meantime I have ordered my new aquarium 160x60x55cm with one Pulzar lamp above it. In the showroom the light looked quite well distributed through the diffuser. Even on a 70cm wide aquarium. my aquarium becomes a room divider, look through aquarium. We'll see how it turns out. I always have the option of adding a second lamp.

 

[tiger15]

I am on the extreme end using a dozen LED to distribute light over my 6 foot long tank. They are mostly low wattage submersible LEDs tied with fish line on the front, back, middle and side rims inside the tank and high wattage strip LEDs placed on the glass top. With distributed light and no dark spots, plant grow more uniformly and pop in color. The one drawback is that you need multiple extension sockets to plug many lights.

 

[Sanniejop]

Looks impressive. Do you not have problems with water temperature with those lamps in the water? The lamps have effective cooling 😀

 

[tiger15]

No, I don’t have temp issue with the submersible LEDs as they come with low wattage (0.1 to 0.2 watt) diodes only warm to touch. The reason I go with submersible is to achieve broader light coverage as having strip LEDs alone sitting on tank top cast shadow on the top front, back and sides. LEDs are directional light so unless you can hang LEDs couple feet above the tank, the coverage is incomplete.

 

[Sanniejop]

I hope that the diamant prism of the pulzar lights helps to get that broader light.
What I have seen in the showroom looked pretty good.
At the time it has arrived (over two months) I can share a picture I hope.

 

[hamfist]

I can see this thread is going to cost me money. I am a relative newb with planted tanks and have 3 x relatively successful small (90 litres or less) low tech planted tanks.
I am currenly in the process of trying to convert my 500 litre fish community into a planted tank, as surprisingly I have found that none of my larger fish seem particularly vegetarian. I currently have one long LED unit along the middle of the tank, (tank footprint is 150cm x 60cm). I have been wondering whether this spread of light would be enough. I think the intensity is fine but with the one light source along the top middle of the tank, there will probably be too much shading of plants towards the front (and maybe even the back) of the tank. I can see more lighting in my future !

 

[Bradders]

I can see this thread is going to cost me money.

The cost of living crisis has not affected the aquarium industry for sure! I am becoming poorer by the week! 😀