What lights did your LFS sell you?
Are you using pressurized co2?
Do you have plants that require high light?

 

6 foot tanks are more limited when it comes to lighting because bar lights don't usually extend to 6 feet.

Puck style lighting works like kessil or ai prime.

You can also find some mounts for bar style lights that attach to the back of stands. If that is acceptable or if you can hang from the cieling, you can use any bar lights that you can put together to stretch across the tank. Feature wise they are limited, but I still like twinstar lights. You would probably need to cieling mount though.

 

For simple on/off (can have a programmer added) led Beamswork sells a 73" bar. Would probably need 2.
What kind of budget are you considering?

 

Already in for about 3.5 grand now. I bought a 4ft 6 Tube warehouse light set. Need to mount it on the ceiling. Hopefully it has enough lumens to penetrate 2 feet of water. Will check out other suggestions mentioned here too.

How about 4 of these hung from the ceiling ?

 

How about 4 of these hung from the ceiling ?

Your fish will think they are about to have a close encounter with that much light.. 1,600w equivalent is 12.5watt/gal.. freshwater planted is typically in the 2-5watt/gal range right

 

How about 4 of these hung from the ceiling ?

Cheap floods work. Keep in mind at 120 degrees they shouldn't be too far from the water surface.
Color rendering can be weak though.
Dimming is done via height and adjusting light spill outside vs inside the tank.

It's only 200w total and guesstimate par is 39 at 45cm

 

How about 4 of these hung from the ceiling ?

This will work in that, you will have light and it will grow plants. How well is dependent on how bright they really are when put into practice.

BUT will the resulting light look good?

One of the things higher end aquarium lighting gets you is the ability to adjust things and also the ability to reflect rich colors. If you use lousy lights your fish and plants will appear washed out. They might be healthy, but they will never look as good.

What you can do very easily with cheap lights is buy different ones and see if you can mix and match to create better colors.

Or you can buy the expensive lights and get better color rendition. Only you can answer if it's worth it or not.

 

This from a 6ft owner, take a look at 21LED. They make a light that will span the tank. You can get it full range with multi color leds but they also have it in 10K only which is what i run in my 245 gal. You will want two fixtures to cover the tank well. They have full wireless dimmers or you can do your own thing. The prices are good and customer service has been great. I own four of the six footers,3 on one tank and 1 on a 150 gal grow out plus two more on some 40 breeders.

 

Think I'd go the "custom" route..

 

I vote for 2 x 3' foot hanging LED lights made for aquarium use. I am a fan of Twinstar but there are certainly less expensive options. Pick a good brand with a full function controller i.e. dimming, timer, and color adjustment. DIY can work it you are good with a soldering iron and can build a housing.

With DIY you are more in charge of your own success ...or lack of. Once you start chasing the algae monster you may not want to be wondering if you made the right choices when you built your own lights. But then sometimes the chase is most of the fun

 

I am thinking of using these for my 6’ tank, 4 of them I’m thinking.

they seem to be the Chinese knock off version of kessil

 

Do you have a sense of budget you were hoping to stay under for the lights?

 

Paid $450 and got two FluvalSmart 58 watt lights

 

Sooo that is what you have now ( not the worst btw)?

You want to supplement or replace?

One cheap supplement is a 72" Beamswork. Unfortunately it seems out of stock atm.

 

I'm a strong DIY LED enthusiast. You can build a custom System with minimal tools for 1/4 the cost of the efficient commercial units that are worth anything. Plus you can design the light spectrum to meet the needs of your plant selection. The only thing to remember is to balance the light spectrum with a balance of daylight and warm LEDs, and if you using high light plants boost it with Blue and Far Red LED's.

I mount my leads in 1 1/2" wide Aluminum Channel and use three channels on my 120 Gallon tank with the center channel being for the red and blue LED's.

 

Any links or recommendations what components to buy ?