T5NO will work fine on a 40 breeder
T5NO on a 40 gallon breeder
I am probably going to buy a used T5NO with two 21 watt bulbs. The bulbs are going to be 6700 K or I may see if I can find a T5NO color max bulb that is 21 watts if they make one. I really wanted a HO fixture but this one is going to be a good deal. I am going to run pressurized CO2 and ferts. The light is going to be mounted on the tank so is not going to be raised very high. Being that this is NO and not HO will I still be able to grow some of the nicer red plants as well as some other high light plants? What are your opinions. Should I just break the bank and buy a HO fixture?
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any one else have any more input?
Ya it will work fine right on top of the tank. That tank isnt a large distance from substrate to surface so that will put you in the high category.
I have several 40b tanks and my issue is getting good coverage across that 18"d 
Still around pepperonihead?
I am back to reconsidering T5NO vs T5HO for my 40 breeder as new circumstances may suggest that I use a canopy instead of an open top or egg-crate with raised lights. With the canopy I will have little or no room to play with, height wise, so i can't make adjustments that might be necessary for a T5HO setup. I've seen beautiful 40B tanks with a 2 bulb T5HO fixture (speedie, etc) but don't think that was their first experience with a heavily planted tank.
I do have CO2 and EI ferts, wouldn't want to waste them but the rig and ferts also will last forever so i don't need to go crazy with lighting etc in my first attempt at the "planted tank" side of the hobby (my 20-high has like 15 plants in it with 2 bulb T5NO).
I am thinking of a custom 2 bulb T5NO with the lights spread out maybe 10" apart from each other. However this seems to me like it will be really low lighting (Hoppy's chart lists single bulb T5NO as low or "---" for a 16" deep tank) - because of the spread of the bulbs I am unsure if many areas of the tank will truly experience 2x-T5NO light. Is 2 x 2-bulb (4 total bulbs) T5NO an option here or would that be too high light now?
I am back to reconsidering T5NO vs T5HO for my 40 breeder as new circumstances may suggest that I use a canopy instead of an open top or egg-crate with raised lights. With the canopy I will have little or no room to play with, height wise, so i can't make adjustments that might be necessary for a T5HO setup. I've seen beautiful 40B tanks with a 2 bulb T5HO fixture (speedie, etc) but don't think that was their first experience with a heavily planted tank.
I do have CO2 and EI ferts, wouldn't want to waste them but the rig and ferts also will last forever so i don't need to go crazy with lighting etc in my first attempt at the "planted tank" side of the hobby (my 20-high has like 15 plants in it with 2 bulb T5NO).
I am thinking of a custom 2 bulb T5NO with the lights spread out maybe 10" apart from each other. However this seems to me like it will be really low lighting (Hoppy's chart lists single bulb T5NO as low or "---" for a 16" deep tank) - because of the spread of the bulbs I am unsure if many areas of the tank will truly experience 2x-T5NO light. Is 2 x 2-bulb (4 total bulbs) T5NO an option here or would that be too high light now?
Ive got two of those fixtures over a 50 breeder. The 50 is a couple of inches taller, but has the same footprint. No CO2 and no ferts in this tank, ADA aquasoil. Its packed with swords. Knock on wood, I havent had any algae at all and it has been setup for about 6 weeks.
<---- Were you speaking of this guy? :tongue:Still around pepperonihead?
I am back to reconsidering T5NO vs T5HO for my 40 breeder as new circumstances may suggest that I use a canopy instead of an open top or egg-crate with raised lights. With the canopy I will have little or no room to play with, height wise, so i can't make adjustments that might be necessary for a T5HO setup. I've seen beautiful 40B tanks with a 2 bulb T5HO fixture (speedie, etc) but don't think that was their first experience with a heavily planted tank.
I do have CO2 and EI ferts, wouldn't want to waste them but the rig and ferts also will last forever so i don't need to go crazy with lighting etc in my first attempt at the "planted tank" side of the hobby (my 20-high has like 15 plants in it with 2 bulb T5NO).
I am thinking of a custom 2 bulb T5NO with the lights spread out maybe 10" apart from each other. However this seems to me like it will be really low lighting (Hoppy's chart lists single bulb T5NO as low or "---" for a 16" deep tank) - because of the spread of the bulbs I am unsure if many areas of the tank will truly experience 2x-T5NO light. Is 2 x 2-bulb (4 total bulbs) T5NO an option here or would that be too high light now?
I've got no experience with NO fixtures but I can tell you that T5HO fixtures are not created equal. I've used the El cheapo Nova Extreme fixtures and the better Hagen GLO fixtures to one of the best, TEK fixtures. You'll be able to grow plants much more efficiently with better fixtures because they have better reflectors. The bulb is also important as well. You want something that'll last and stay consistent for a longer period of time compared to cheap no name bulbs that lose their efficiency within a few months.
If you're trying to grow a lush carpet via hightech, I don't think a dual bulb NO fixture will suffice on a 40B. I'm saying this because when I was growing my UG and Belem hairgrass in my old 40B, it was hard enough with 2x39W T5HOs (Nova Extreme). The light spread with the reflectors on that fixture was very narrow and combined on a deep tank, I got very little coverage down below at the substrate level. I had to use 2 clip on cfl lights for additional lighting to get the foreground going.
Don't skimp on lighting now just to buy what you should've bought later. Good luck.
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