TMC GroBeam vs Tile?

[Wisey]

Hi All,

I have just received my TMC Signature 60x45x45 aquarium and cabinet and would appreciate some advice on lighting. I'm going high tech, I will have 1200 litres an hour flow rate, pressurised CO2 and will be fertilising in some way, most likely EI long term although may start with a bottle of something I can squirt in until I get more confident.

I was going to get a TMC GroBeam 1500 Ultima Tile as I had seen someone else on here using a single tile on a 60x45x30. I also saw George Farmers journal where he used 2 tiles, but I know that the problem for many newbies is too much light so I figured a single tile would be fine even though my tank is taller. I was planning on hanging this from an iQuatics universal rail so I would have control of the height and also the intensity from the controller.

I'm just wondering whether people think this is a good way forward, or whether I should have a look at the TMC GroBeam 600 twin pack, the price is similar so that's not really a consideration. I guess I could still hang this from the iQuatics although would need an extra bar, or I could use the TMC Rim Mount system but then I don't get to vary the height with that,

Will the twin bars give me better coverage of the whole tank compared to the tile? What are the pros and cons please?

Thanks in advance,

Wisey.

 

[RossMartin]

Hi Wisey,

I have an almost identical setup...it might have been mine that you are referring to. The 1500 Ultimate Tile is extremely bright. I have a controller running it at 5%!!!!

In my tank I had to add an additional power head to aid with the flow and I think you will need to do the same.

Cheers

Ross


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[RossMartin]

Sorry forgot to add the 1500 is perfect for a 60x45x45 tank. I had my tile on a 75x45x45 tank and that was pushing it!!! The corners were getting light, but only just!!


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[Wisey]

Hi Ross,

Thank you very much for your feedback, that is really useful to know! I was hoping to avoid putting too much in the tank, I'm going with inline heating and CO2, but was planning on running a spraybar along the entire back of the tank pointing towards the front. Do you still think that is going to require a power head? What are you using to return water to your tank?

 

[RossMartin]

No Problem!

I use an inline hydor 300w heater with an up inline atomizer on the outlet of my filter. I use a JBL e1501 with a spray at across the entire width of the tank. I also use a hydor Pico Evo-mag 1200 just below the spray bar pointing towards the front of the tank. I think you will just have to see if you need a power head. I would see how the plants do. If they show signs of C02 deficiency then they are only £30!


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[Wisey]

It seems my planned set-up is very similar to what you have, I was going for the Hydor 200 or 300 and the UP inline atomizer too. For my filter I was planning an Eheim Professional 3 600 with 1250 lph rating out of the box. My reason for going spray bar was I hoped that would mean I would not need an ugly looking power head in the tank, if I may still need a power head anyway, I might be tempted to just get a MUCH cheaper lilly pipe and combine it with a decent power head and forget the spray bar idea as it was a glass spray bar I ultimately had in mind and that is not going to be cheap!

 

[RossMartin]

I've had glass wear before and i always break it!

Spraybars give the best distribution, i use the powerhead to give the carpeting plants a bit more flow!

C02 has been my biggest issue and it is for most people. It didn't help with me blasting the plants with far too much light. I would stick with the spraybar from the filter and see how that goes with regards to getting flow around the tank. I think glassware is something to look at once you have got the tank going and got the CO2 diffusion right. That is just my opinion!

 

[Wisey]

I did think I might play around with the included spray bar as there is going to be quite a gap between me getting the filter and being ready to start planting, at least a month as I will get the filter one month and all the CO2 bits the following payday. I will have a whole month with very little to get on with so I suspect there will be some experiments to see how the flow works.

 

[Bhu]

I have the twin 600's. Over a 55cm cube. They can be much lower to the tank than the tile to geta really good light coverage. The tile will have to be higher to cover all the tank. Also with the controller you can dim them and control the max min output. So far so good. I have a few high light needing plants and they are growing well and my low light ones are ok as well.

 

[Wisey]

I ordered myself the 1500 Tile, a two channel controller, an MMS rail and the end caps last night. Been talking to iQuatics online today and they have been super helpful, will be giving then a call tomorrow to order up the universal hanging rail. I will therefore have a lot of flexibility in how high I can mount the tile, I actually like the idea that it will be quite high up and away from the tank. This project is slowly coming together although it is going to be a couple of months before I have all the filtration and CO2 kit!