Suggestions On New Light Unit

[Dougie]

hi, i have a fluval 125, 31.5"x18.5"x13" and have taken the rim off the top, i plan on adding a 6mm rectangular piece of acrylic eg 13"x6"x6mm siliconed to the top to act as a sort of brace for when i fill it. My mate has done this without adding any support and the tank is fine, I just get cold feet about things like this lol!

Anyway, now I've explained, what light unit would you suggest to go on top? i'm looking for a good clip on LED or a LED tile. Would I maybe be better with T5's? APS sell a unit with bulbs etc for around the 80quid mark, which I gather is pretty cheap.

Any other ideas? not crazy priced but i may have around 150 to spend on one.

Cheers for any input.

 

[Dougie]

Anyone???

 

[GlassWalker]

I have a Fluval Roma 125 which I've taken the original 2x20W T8 top off (but not the plastic rim) and put in its place the Fluval 25W tropical LED bar. I like the light output it gives and haven't had problems with plant growth, running low tech. I would add, I wouldn't get the light new. The price isn't that competitive now but I picked mine up used for £100.

On a Juwel Rio 125 (same shape and size as Fluval) I've got an Evergrow IT2060 LED unit. This is overkill for sure, but is programmable/dimmable. New they're over budget, but I've seen a few recently in used ads for around £150. You will need to hang them over tank though, or make your own support if you want to rest it on the tank, but I don't think it is recommended to place them close to the water surface. If you look on ebay, there are many dimmable 120W LED units under £100 too, so that could be a cheaper alternative.

 

[GlassWalker]

Here's the Roma 125 with Fluval LED bar. Don't mind the contents, I just dumped all my left over plants in there after a previous rearrange and haven't thought about scaping it yet.


And here's the Rio 125 with IT2060 on it. I think the majority of the cheap(er) high power LED units are designed towards marine use, and this is a marine tank. The unit has, in short, two channels. Let's call one white (mix of cool white, warm white, red, green, violet), the other has the blues. If you run mostly white, perhaps with a low blue setting, it looks like a nice white source. The above picture was taken with blues on 9, whites on 60 (out of 100). This was only an experimental setting I was using for photos previously, as the marine blue light often confuses cameras. I normally run the tank at 40/40 but it does have that marine blue look to it then. There are cheaper 2040 models or similar from other companies, which are a bit shorter too, but should still have plenty of coverage on a tank this size if hung high enough. I'm probably hanging this too low, but I can't raise my hanging kit any more. Hanging kit not included with light unit. I could probably find some (marine) hair algae if you want something green to look at in there 🙂