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Setting up a new freshwater aquarium help

I would rather not have a suspended one to be honest. No idea about co2 yet. I wasn't intending on using it. Yes, tank is open top and glass is thick and heavy haha. Budget? Well, I'm trying to keep costs low if im honest..

If I wanted to spend a lot I'd probably go back to running a reef system. The purpose of going freshwater was to reduce costs. Seems that's not really happening...
 
For a 60 cm high tank something suspended is the way to go in my opinion. Lamps higher above the tank with a narrower beam angle are much more efficient since more light is actually going (and staying) inside the tank. You need efficient lightning to have enough light on the bottom of your tank.
 
What about two Al Prime HD for 91cm wide? They seem to be more customisable than the twinstar. Similar price.
 
For budget light system LED Flood lights might be an option.. Already used by quite a lot of aquascapers and prooven effective.

But than you need to DIY some parts for mounting.. If you don't like suspended than do a search on Aliexpress for <Goosneck tube>, they come in silver and black up to 60 cm long.. It can be srewed to the lamp and screwed to a clamp to the glass. Than you have to search for some alternative clamps or make them. An alternative clamp could be <this one>

Than clamp - goosneck in desired lenght - flood light as many and as strong as desired.. 🙂

Or use any other LED spotlight model that can be mounted to the goosneck..
 
I could save money for longer to spend more in a light. I'm not against that. I can't say I'm going to get co2 straight away though. Maybe when tnak is a little more established and I want to try some more difficult plants.

How would the AI Prime HD serve this tank or is their better for similar price point thanks for your help so far guys. It is helping me plan and budget.
 
WHat kind of light would I need for a low tech tank? I am starting to sway more towards that, the more I read.
 
If you are concerned about costs whatever light you like. Go the Fluval if you like.

Defo add co2 though, even at a low level. It’s like night and day with plant health and growth!
 
The fluval 3 - 46w is long enough for my tank. It costs £200. Is there a better light (that would fit my tank) for the same price?

In the future (if the PAR was okay), I could always add another.
 
neonplanet40 said:
WHat kind of light would I need for a low tech tank?
Click to expand...

That is rather difficult to answer.. 🙂 It depends on the size of the aquarium and the type of plants you want to grow..

Personaly i would say get more than you need with a dimmable option than you can't go wrong. You could make a choice to take enough to go high tech in the future and dim it down as long as you are runnin it low tech..
 
My tank is 91cm length, 2ft width and 2 ft height.

As for plants... I honestly have no idea yet. I was thinking of getting the fluval 3 (just 1) and maybe getting a 2nd in the future. But if it isn't good enough for my depth of tank, then that seems a waste.
 
The Fluval 3.0 is definately good enough for low tech in my oppinion, you just need to decide if you want to potentially upgrade to co2 and will have to accept that you can't grow all plants and that they will grow slowly without it. My style is definately low tech no CO2, I can grow carpeting plants (though don't have a carpet), grow red plants etc but they grow slowly and there are many many so called easy plants I simply cannot grow (which is like to!). I have a 90cm 30w light over a 200 litre tank which is 50cm deep.
 
I'm jumping back and forth on lights. I've looked at two ai prime and twinstar 900sa. They are very expensive though!

I don't want to go co2 to be honest.
 
Then in that case just get a T8 luminaire, it'll be ideal for low-energy and you could probably pick one up fairly cheaply; keep an eye on eBay for instance.
 
I will be setting up my 40 ltr tank first. Either with a chihiros wrgb or a twinstar 300. From this I think I will make decisions on my bigger tank that are based on my experiences with this smaller one.

Can I ask, what do people use that is best to control twinstar? Also, many twinstarts are out if stock. I have emailed our UK supplier twice and never received any response. Any other sellers I am not aware off?

Thank you for your help guys. At times I feel like I am going in circles but I am taking your advice on board
 
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