Lighting for a 92g tank

Beto de Novo · 04-08-2004, 04:30 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm about to get a 92 g tank, and considering what kinda lighting would be the best for me.. If some of you could give me a helping hand with your experience, I'd gratefull for it..

some other specs of the tank:: the surface is 49"*18", the height is 22" (if I convert it fine:: 125*45*55 in cm)..

I'd like to make it a heavily planted tank, preferably with Japanese-style lawn, but with more plants in the background than at most of Amano's work.. Now, what I need is high light and Co2 -- and about planning the light, I have some foggy areas to clean up.

I've looked up Coralife and other high output lights, but tough luck, the European lighting system isn't compatible with any of that.. So if I want go with PCs, I'm limited with the max. power of 36 W Compact Fluorescents. Only with them, I can pack about 210/250 Ws above my tank, *OR* I can put up there 4*36W with PCs, plus 2*70 W of MH lights -- resulting 3,26 Wpg, which would be ideal for my plans regarding the plants.

The thing is, my priority is to go w/o MH lights, because of the costs -- so I was offered another solution. I was told that this Wpg metric is a simplified way to get to the point:: lux and lumen. The trick, I was told about, is to get a certain type of PCs, which gives less Ws (28W), BUT each gives 2800 lm -- what is almost the double of the lm-value that the 36 W lamp has to offer.. The weak point is that the rich lumen isn't set to be radiated at the wavelenghts, which would be optimal for the plants (stronger in the green and orange scale of the spectrum, than the blue-red parts)..

The question is, should I give up on the wavelength-part to get more intensity (regarding lumen, not W) OR should I stick with a 2,72 Wpg (with an average number of 900+ lumens at the bottom) and the optimal wavelength?

Also, another question, how long do you have your UV-strelizators work, to keep your water as clean as I see it on the pics? I was told that it shouldn't be working continuously because by this I'll get even the good guy bacteria killed, so the immune system of my fishes will be weak as hell.. What's your word on it?

[/b]

Beto de Novo · 04-08-2004, 04:34 PM

Sorry, in my paragraph, before the last, where I write..

"with an average number of 900+ lumens at the bottom"

..it's not 900+ lumens but lux, as you might have thought too..

TIA

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04-08-2004, 04:30 PM	#1
Beto de Novo Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 4	Hi everyone, I'm about to get a 92 g tank, and considering what kinda lighting would be the best for me.. If some of you could give me a helping hand with your experience, I'd gratefull for it.. some other specs of the tank:: the surface is 49"18", the height is 22" (if I convert it fine:: 1254555 in cm).. I'd like to make it a heavily planted tank, preferably with Japanese-style lawn, but with more plants in the background than at most of Amano's work.. Now, what I need is high light and Co2 -- and about planning the light, I have some foggy areas to clean up. I've looked up Coralife and other high output lights, but tough luck, the European lighting system isn't compatible with any of that.. So if I want go with PCs, I'm limited with the max. power of 36 W Compact Fluorescents. Only with them, I can pack about 210/250 Ws above my tank, OR* I can put up there 436W with PCs, plus 270 W of MH lights -- resulting 3,26 Wpg, which would be ideal for my plans regarding the plants. The thing is, my priority is to go w/o MH lights, because of the costs -- so I was offered another solution. I was told that this Wpg metric is a simplified way to get to the point:: lux and lumen. The trick, I was told about, is to get a certain type of PCs, which gives less Ws (28W), BUT each gives 2800 lm -- what is almost the double of the lm-value that the 36 W lamp has to offer.. The weak point is that the rich lumen isn't set to be radiated at the wavelenghts, which would be optimal for the plants (stronger in the green and orange scale of the spectrum, than the blue-red parts).. The question is, should I give up on the wavelength-part to get more intensity (regarding lumen, not W) OR should I stick with a 2,72 Wpg (with an average number of 900+ lumens at the bottom) and the optimal wavelength? Also, another question, how long do you have your UV-strelizators work, to keep your water as clean as I see it on the pics? I was told that it shouldn't be working continuously because by this I'll get even the good guy bacteria killed, so the immune system of my fishes will be weak as hell.. What's your word on it? [/b]

04-08-2004, 04:34 PM	#2
Beto de Novo Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 4	Sorry, in my paragraph, before the last, where I write.. "with an average number of 900+ lumens at the bottom" ..it's not 900+ lumens but lux, as you might have thought too.. TIA