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Watts per gallon

the best way to test led without par meter is lumens per litre but you still wont have a clue what the par value is. What i would do is start of with 5 hours 50 percent power if its too much then lower it and if you do not see any algae and plants are growing as you want them to then leave it as it is. Once the tank has more plant mass then increase the the time to 8 hours and intensity. If you have any problems with algae then you know your light is too much. Take your time as too much light do cause algae and many other problems. I built myself an led light and i have a good understanding of how much light i need to use when i use leds without a par meter.

Sounds like a plan mow! There are sooo many variables that I thought I’d just start off really slow, with low intensity and see where I end up. Hopefully not the Algae Forum. ;)

I think I’ve decided on getting 2 Kessil A160 or 2 AI Primes.

My first scape is going to be setup so that most of the plants and hardscape are on the left, with them petering out to a bare area of substrate at the right of the tank.

So I’m thinking I can get away with 2 of the lights instead of 3 to start with, then buy another later on if needed. I can then have the 2 lights slightly more to the left to keep within the 24” spread of the lights.

Does anybody see an issue with that?

My tank is 54” x 18” x 18” by the way. CO2 injection, EI etc.

Thanks for all the replies above peeps!!
 
so the tank you have is 300 litres. 2 kessils won't be enough as i looked at them and they are rated 40w per light. And also your tank is 147 cm long those kessils won't spread and cover the tank well you will have dead spots. If you are going for a high tech set up i suggest you get at least 120w - 140w led set up.
 
IMG-20180113-WA0026.jpg

A friends tank 120cm x50 x 50 300l using 144w led 8 hours a day full power. Thats a diy led build same as the one i built on one of my threads. The tank is new and still growing.
 
I think I’ve decided on getting 2 Kessil A160

If you are planning to use red plants don't choose for kessil. They don't pop reds and you pay relative a lot of money for an outdated spectrum.

What about a pendant style lighting and go for 2x twinstar s series 600 sp? Only thing is you have 45 cm depth. So maybe you should put the lights a little more to the back so the stems get full light. Carpet plants in front can do with lower light.
 
I’d like a pendant but I’ve no way of hanging it, and none of the universal brackets I can find are long enough.

Well I did find one, but it’s not something I’d be happy to have in my lounge.

I’m not really a DIY’er so making one isn’t really my thing either.

Wish I’d stuck to a standard sized tank now! Ha.
 
well buying these leds will cost allot of money in my opinion. My friend was able to build his led for less than 200 pounds i helped him with the build. If he bought 144w leds then it would cost him over 800 pounds. anyways you have a lot of options to choose as nigel said twinstar 600s would be good but your tank size you would need 4 of them.
 
well buying these leds will cost allot of money in my opinion. My friend was able to build his led for less than 200 pounds i helped him with the build. If he bought 144w leds then it would cost him over 800 pounds. anyways you have a lot of options to choose as nigel said twinstar 600s would be good but your tank size you would need 4 of them.

Wow 4 of those twinstar would be expensive!

Arcadia Classica are cheap. Not sure how good they are like. I could get 4 of those for the price of one Kessil or AI.
 
Is that just the 1 a160 you’re running on that rank?
Yes - I'd picked up an A160 on sale & decided to try it on this tank

I'm still of the opinion that this tank really needs an A360 & was intending to buy one, but decided to wait on the possibilty of a new model coming (Kessil recently did a discount promo on the A360)
 
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