lighting?

[brochtune]

Hi, I'm a little confused about lighting. I've seen numerous different websites state that a good general rule for subdued lighting is 1-2 WPG. I recently acquired a 65G (4ft) tank to give my clown loaches a little more room. this means that good subdued lighting would be 65-130 total watts, right?

The thing that makes me confused is that similar wattage flourescent tubes have different lux output ratings. For example, I bought a 40W Aqua-Glo which has a Lux rating of 130, however, there was also a 40W Life-Glo which has a Lux rating of (something like) 360 (could have been 260.)

Anyway, what's more important, Watts or lux? Lux is measured light output whereas Watts has to do with electrical consumption, right? So wouldn't it be better to base my tank on Lux?

Also, is there some colour rating that my loaches would prefer, or that they would look better under?(or even some combination?) The Aqua-Glo is 18,000K where the Life-Glo is 6700K, and obviously there are others as well(Sun-Glo - 4200K, Power-Glo - 18,000K.)

Anyway, thanks!

Thomas

[Martin Thoene]

Hi brochtune and greetings from sunny Toronto. Lighting to an extent depends on your requirements for the exact use of the tank. Do you wish to grow plants? If so, what type of plants. Various ones will require different light levels.

I just recently changed the lighting on my 6 foot tank to something highly unconventional....12V halogen lighting. The fish love it and come out far more and the plants now have more light than before because I hardly switched on the old flourescents because the Clowns always hid if I did.

My method for mounting the lamps was also highly unconventional as you'll see if you check this thread:

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=4563&start=0

There's lots more pictures further into the thread.

The fish's colour is very natural under this lighting too, but the spectrum is a bit yellow and may not suit all plants. It's an option though. I'm sure others will chip in with their ideas and recommendations.

Martin.

[brochtune]

Thanks for you reply, Martin. I like what you have done with your tank. I really considered it a while ago. It's like another lighting source for you as well, not just contained to the tank, which also adds a bit of decoration to your room. I'd do something similar to it (at one time I was going to use a pool table type light set) but I "share" my tank with my kids so I have neons and black phantom tetras, etc. which may require more light to show them off.

Do you have any advice specific to wattage vs lux? I basically want to go as bright as I can while still providing a comfortable environment for the clowns. Thanks!

Thomas

[Martin Thoene]

Well you didn't answer the question about plants, but watts is a figure relating to power useage, but it tends to correlate with brightness to an extent.

The best choice of tubes is in the 4 foot length and I find mixing colour spectrums is a good way of getting a nice lighting effect. If you've got neons and Black Phantoms you will view them better under one of the special aquatic lamps designed for plant growth. These tend to appear pink when compared to some other tubes and will enhance reds and blues in the fish. In a multiple tube setup, use them at the front for the best effect on things like neons.

On my 4 foot River-Tank I have two shoplight fittings from Home-Depot bolted together, so there's 4 40Wtubes. I have various different tubes, but two are just plain old Home Depot bought 5000K cheapo daylight tubes. I know there's a Philips Aquarell in there too. It's too bright for Clowns though.

I've never really taken note of the lumens ratings. The 'K' number relates to brightness and spectrum. tThe lower figures tend to be less bright and have a high red content, the 5000K plus numbers get whiter and have more blue in them. Somewhere in the middle are more yellow tones.

If you search around on the web there's lots of info on aquarium lighting for different purposes.

Martin.

[brochtune]

Sorry for not responding about the plants. I was planning on building the tank around the clowns, so whichever plants fit the criteria of the tank (while still accomodating the tetras and danios) were what I was going to stock it with.
Right now I have some Water wisteria that I'm using as a floating plant. it was looking terrible because of all the holes being punched out of it so I left them floating. They provide some nice moving shade so I'll be keeping them I think.

Otherwise I think I'll fall back to the regulars, java ferns/moss or anubias, if I can keep it low light enough.

Thanks for you help, Martin.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[TammyLiz]

Thomas,

With those plants in that size tank a good amount of light would be two 32watt 4 foot T5 bulbs. Thats what I have done over my 4ft tank with success. Anything more and I'd need more fast-growing plants to uptake nutrients and combat algae. The wisteria would not do well in the substrate because it wouldn't be enough light for it, but floating it should be fine. Another plant that will do well with that low amount of light is a tiger lily. I doubt it would be too much light for the clowns, especially if you had the floating plants and a semi dense cover of other plants along the lower portion of the tank.

The 6700K is the best spectrum I've heard you mention so far. You'll have algae issues if you go with 15,000K. Like Martin, I buy my bulbs at Home Depot instead of a fish store or aquarium supply company to save money. There are better bulbs out there, for sure, but I can't afford them. The color temperature being correct is close enough for me, even though the colors may not spike at the same places along the spectrum.

HTH. Just thought I'd throw in my little bit of experience with low-light tanks. Unfortunately I have had a problem with blue green algae in mine lately, but I don't think its an issue with the setup, per se, but a problem with it being introduced accidentally and then allowed to run rampant without my intervention. Ugh, make sure you don't let that nasty stuff get into your tank.

--Tammy