Lighting for planted 30g

crazykuzco · 04-20-2008, 02:21 PM

I am trying to decide on some lights for my 30g since I am interested on trying to grow freshwater plants. I have found these 2 lights, but I know nothing on these brands. What are your opinions on these lights? What would you reccomend for under $150? Thanks guys.

And just for gills and flippers, these are my parameters right now. I have the tank running with an Aqua-Tech 30-60 HOB filter, 200W heater, and the cheap floresant light the tank came with.

PH 7.0
GH 180ppm
KH 80ppm
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
nitrate 20-40?
I'm using those API 5in1 test strips. Nitrate is hard for to read.

these are the lights I saw. I'm leaning towards the Odyssea one since they come wih lunar lights too. My 75g has lunars, I really like them.

Odyssea 30" Aquarium Power Compact Lighting 130

http://cgi.ebay.com/Odyssea-30-Aquar...QQcmdZViewItem

AQUARIUM LIGHT 30" JEBO POWER COMPACT LIGHTING W/LEGS
http://www.eworldtoy.com/aqli30jepoco.html

tropical1 · 04-20-2008, 04:36 PM

dont know anything about the lighting but you might wanna get those nitrates down with a quick water change.

crazykuzco · 04-20-2008, 09:54 PM

I did the water change about 2-3 hours ago. Nitrates are reading 0-20 now. It's hard for me to differentiate between the different shades of pink. I'll do another water change tomorrow. Just to be safe.

Can I use a shorter fixture, that has the same wattage? Such as this one.

Aqualight Deluxe Strip Light - Double/130w - 24" *New*

http://cgi.ebay.com/Aqualight-Deluxe...:B:SRCH:US:101

E46er · 04-30-2008, 11:05 PM

you want around 10-20 ppm nitrates in a planted tank

as for shorter lights...................my opinion would be they will work sure but create dark spots at the top of the tank which i think are an eye sore

Jay · 05-01-2008, 07:29 AM

Lighting is fairly crutial in a planted tank and you are not going to be happy with shortcuts or cheap stuff.

You might want to look at the Allglass or Perfecto fixtures, I used them when I was just starting out.

Here is a link

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...73&pcatid=3773

I don't understand Tropicals thoughts on Nitrates in a planted tank. I routinely keep Nitrates at 20-30 ppm by dosing KNO3.

Regards,
Jay