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75 Gal. for my office

3K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  Streetwise 
#1 ·
Hi everyone

I'm hoping to start a 75gal planted tank for my office in the next few weeks. I'm not new to planted tanks, but it has probably been 6 or 7 yrs since I've kept one. My last planted tank was a 75gal with T8 flourescent lights. It was very low-tech. No filter. No heater. Just lights, plants, and fish. It worked reasonably well. I had problems with the fine Spirogira hair algae, but otherwise had fun. I had to let it go because I didn't have the time to fight all the algae. I've probably got about 10 or more years experience with planted tanks altogether.

Since then, it appears technology has advanced significantly, especially in the lighting department. I'm planning on doing an aquascape with rocks and driftwood taken from a local lake. I'll need to make sure they are clean before using them. Any suggestions on what to look at for lights? I'm probably looking for at least medium light intensity, and if going by the "old" axiom, somewhere around what we used to recommend about 2-3 watts/gal. I've read this is not how its done anymore, so this is why I'm looking for advise. I'd like to try LED lights, if they can be had affordably. Thanks.
 
#2 ·
not sure what your price range is,but I have a fluval fresh and plant 3.0 on my low tech 75 and it's working great.It does cost over 200 bucks though.Being able to control it through my phone is awesome though.I have a journal started for that tank.
 
#4 ·
What is your budget?

If your handy you could get this controller and get all the ramping and dimming features like fluval just no color adjustments. Myself, I wouldn’t have a light system that doesn’t do ramping/dimming these days. Greatest thing since sliced bread.

https://www.amazon.com/Bsod-DC12-24...PV30DDDZ4T0&psc=1&refRID=D1N3SN03MPV30DDDZ4T0

Basically you wire it in and it controls whatever lights you want at whatever intensity and ramp you desire, you just have to supply a power supply that handles current of all your lights. Use whatever cheap light strips you want. Even wire in a cheap cool white led strip at low intensity on 5th channel for a moonlight/night light.

That being said, even if you get some cheap lights like these you’ll still be up in the $160 range to get lighting needs for that tank plus controllers. Even with 2 of these you’ll still be at med/low light range at substrate.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KK6G8ZL/ref=twister_B07TC1P4B5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

There also lights like Finnex 24/7 with remote control but you’ll still need 2 of them for anything other than low-med light plants.

To me the phone/app controls and ability to sync up multiple lights of fluval is worth every cent of the price.

But you could always go led spotlight from Home Depot, a light bit of DIY and a $6 digital timer and end up with something like this with right plant choices.

I should have noted user name on this pic when I saved it, its perfect example of barebones lights driving a simple tank. Green and vibrant but all simple easy to keep plants. Also I love hatchet fish.

 
#5 ·
I love my BeamsWork fixture. Very reasonably priced and grows my lowlights really well. There is a day/night light timer that goes with it. It's sold separately. I've had this light for over a year now. Love it. Please keep in mind that I am no aquascaper, I simply put the plants in the substrate whenever there is a space lol.

Edit...not sure why the pic isn't showing up in the right position.
 

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#6 ·
I have a beamswork pent 0.5 LED and love it, works wonders. I also used 3 9w spiral CFL lights in shop light houses (little clamp on things) and grew everything under the low tech sun in my 75g. I'd go with either, happily, again. Both are cheap options. I think black pendant lights hung from the roof along with cheap spiral CFL bulbs is BEAUTIFUL and so incredibly easy to adjust. You just pull slack out of the cord!
 
#8 ·
Have the Beamswork Pent 0.5 6500ks on my 20L and 55G, grow Vals, crypts, and Anubias no problem. I wired them so they work off a Fluval ramp up/down digital timer each. if you want to go higher light just add a second light. I think just one of these lights on my 20L can probably grow high light plants as well.
 
#11 ·
Another Beamswork fan.

FSPEC 48" was about $75, I think. Plenty of light for "easy" plants in my 100ga. I have it on a timer for the shorter "high" 8 hr photo period & another Chinese cheapie (with added reds) for the ramp up/down times on another timer. Probably have less than $125 in the lights, total.
Thanks for this discussion. I'm an LED newbie also looking for lighting for a new 48" 75g tank. I currently have a Beamswork DA 90 500 (lumens) on my 55, and it seems to provide decent growth for my low tech low-to-moderate light plants. The 2 48" Beamswork models I've found on Amazon are rated at 5200 lumens, which is barely more than what's on my 36" 55g tank. Would I need two of the 48" lights to provide comparable lighting for a 75g tank?

Below are the specs for the two different lights. Hopefully someone can help me to interpret these specs so I know which would be better for plant growth, and provide a natural look. I'm guessing that would be the first one with the red & green in addition to the white & actinic--is that right?

Thanks!

Beamswork DA FSPEC LED Aquarium Light Pent Freshwater 0.50W (120cm - 48")
Lumen: 5200
LEDs: 120x 0.50W
Config: 86x 10000K, 16x Actinic 460nm, 9x Red 620nm, 9x Green 520nm
Timer Ready, 2 Mode Day / Night

Beamswork DA 6500K 0.50W Series LED Pent Aquarium Light Freshwater Plant Discus
Lumen: 5200
LEDs: 120x 0.50 watt
Config: 104x 6500K, 16x Actinic
2 Modes: All on / 16x only
Timer Ready
 
#9 ·
Another Beamswork fan.

FSPEC 48" was about $75, I think. Plenty of light for "easy" plants in my 100ga. I have it on a timer for the shorter "high" 8 hr photo period & another Chinese cheapie (with added reds) for the ramp up/down times on another timer. Probably have less than $125 in the lights, total.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I love the fluval fresh and plant 3.0.I'm using the preset planted setting,the only thing I changed was the photoperiod,it's at 9 hrs on my low tech 75.plants are doing great,No algae problems.Potting soil substrate,thrive C at 7-8 squirts.I can upload a pic if you'd like.I'm running a shorter5 version of that light on a 29,same substrate with similar results.I can upload pics if you'd like.
 
#14 ·
Please share screenshots of your Fluval Plant schedules here and in other threads.

Someday, we may be able to actually share programs.
 
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