Low-Tech 125

TMF89 · 01-26-2013, 10:22 PM

Well I need lights! I have a couple four foot T8 shop lights, I was thinking I could overlap them with one or two bulbs in each? The bulbs are 30-40w "Deluxe Cool White", I think they're somewhere from 5500-6700k. I saw some 10k and 8k bulbs, so I was thinking run one low k "red light" bulb, and one of the 8-10ks? That'll get me 120-160 watts (I know I know that's the least important thing to go by, but I'm just giving all the info I can lol), and as far as I can tell, both blue and red light that's needed? Thanks for the tips guys!

TMF89 · 01-29-2013, 01:28 AM

Nobody's got any advice?

NWA-Planted · 01-29-2013, 01:45 AM

Regular daylight style bulbs give off a nice spectrum for growth.

You can over lap them in the middle not abig deal hit the lighting thread and get you a little more info on par data etc

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

lauraleellbp · 01-29-2013, 03:26 AM

What are the dimensions on your tank? 125gals tend to be pretty deep- and T8 bulbs may not give you very much light to work with at the substrate level, depending on your reflectors?

Contrl · 01-29-2013, 04:03 AM

I'm trying exactly the same on a 150... I was "warned" that it would only qualify as low to medium low light,,, but I think that's ok relative to the price of the shoplights I found..

they do seem to have nicely polished reflectors, but so far I only have one double tube on the tank while I get it ready, and my Menards had a run on bulbs and only had the 8000k or soft white left, so I got 2 8000k and will wait for the 6500k bulbs to finish.

01-26-2013, 10:22 PM	#1
TMF89 Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Minnesota Posts: 15	Low-Tech 125 Well I need lights! I have a couple four foot T8 shop lights, I was thinking I could overlap them with one or two bulbs in each? The bulbs are 30-40w "Deluxe Cool White", I think they're somewhere from 5500-6700k. I saw some 10k and 8k bulbs, so I was thinking run one low k "red light" bulb, and one of the 8-10ks? That'll get me 120-160 watts (I know I know that's the least important thing to go by, but I'm just giving all the info I can lol), and as far as I can tell, both blue and red light that's needed? Thanks for the tips guys!

01-29-2013, 01:45 AM	#3
NWA-Planted Planted Tank Guru (View User Tanks) PTrader: (9/100%) Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Bentonville, AR Posts: 3,095	Re: Low-Tech 125 Regular daylight style bulbs give off a nice spectrum for growth. You can over lap them in the middle not abig deal hit the lighting thread and get you a little more info on par data etc Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2 __________________ Sump Pimp #8 RAOK Clubber #28

01-29-2013, 03:26 AM	#4
lauraleellbp Fresh Fish Freak (View User Tanks) PTrader: (69/100%) Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Tampa, Florida Posts: 22,486	What are the dimensions on your tank? 125gals tend to be pretty deep- and T8 bulbs may not give you very much light to work with at the substrate level, depending on your reflectors? __________________ Geckos galore: Geckos in Tails, and follow Geckos in Tails on Facebook 29 gal Planted Tetra Tank, 46 gal Betta simplex community, 90 gal Low Tech Community, Amazon Fishing; my Journal of 10 days in Bolivia along the Rio San Martin

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01-29-2013, 01:28 AM	#2
TMF89 Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Minnesota Posts: 15	Nobody's got any advice?

01-29-2013, 04:03 AM	#5
Contrl Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Missouri Posts: 60	I'm trying exactly the same on a 150... I was "warned" that it would only qualify as low to medium low light,,, but I think that's ok relative to the price of the shoplights I found.. they do seem to have nicely polished reflectors, but so far I only have one double tube on the tank while I get it ready, and my Menards had a run on bulbs and only had the 8000k or soft white left, so I got 2 8000k and will wait for the 6500k bulbs to finish.