Twinstar Led unit

[Fred13]

Hello,

I have a heavily planted tank , 100 x 50 x 50 centimeters 250 liters. I currently running a dual t5 ho bulb hagen fixture with reflectors and arcadia bulbs .

I am thinking of changing to led lightning and specifically to a twinstar 900SA fixture .
Would this be enough for my tank? An improvement or a downgrade?

I am between SA and EA fixtures.

Thank you,
Fred

 

[Edvet]

Dual T5 will grow anything😉

 

[Andrew Butler]

I am between SA and EA fixtures

If you do want to change to LED; I notice you are not in the UK so try looking up 'Twinstar Iberica' who are the European distributor for Twinstar and maybe send them a shot of your tank so they know what plants you have and they should advise you which is the best choice. I would get a dimmer for whichever you choose though to give you a bit of control.

 

[alto]

Twinstar S - without a doubt 😀

Easy to dim the light if it's a bit more than you want, & it offers much more color rendition

George Farmer recently set up this Aquascaper 900 for a client
- Twinstar 900E

Scape 10days later
- note that client has decided to switch to Twinstar 900S

I suspect you'll get much better light spread across the width of tank with these LEDs than with the Hagen fixture (assuming it's the one I'm thinking of)
BUT as Twinstar doesn't offer an expandable "leg" you'll need to modify something or use a suspension kit

 

[Andrew Butler]

BUT as Twinstar doesn't offer an expandable "leg" you'll need to modify something or use a suspension kit

If you look up the EA and SA you will see the legs are adjustable so the 900 will stretch upto 120cm according to literature.
Personally I would avoid the suspended (P) versions of the Twinstar lights as they just aren't fit for hanging in my opinion - they are a right sod to try and get to sit level then the slightest nudge sends them on the skew again.

Easy to dim the light if it's a bit more than you want

100% agree with the dimming part although we have a 600E in our house that is running around 60% and a 600S which is also running around the same but it is the type of plants that differ;the E is on a tank that has more low tech plants with no CO2 whereas the S is over a tank that has CO2 and a full carpet.
I know there is a difference in the spectrum of light used between the E and S that I'm sure but not the technicalities - Oh and £100+.