# 48" T8 lighting over 6' 125 gallon tank



## foster (Sep 23, 2012)

option 2 looks good, however it will leave some darker areas on the ends of the tank. I am using 2 48" fixtures on 2-40breeder tanks that are close together on a 125 stand. I ended up buying a custom 4 bulb 24" fixture to cover the unlit 2 ft. section of the tank. Works very well. My 48" fixtures are 3 bulb that I bought at Home Depot for $34 a piece. LOTS of light!!


----------



## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

how about two 36" fixtures, or three 24" fixtures..

3 of these

Amazon.com: Sun Blaze T5 24 - 2 ft. -4 Lamp - Includes 6500deg K Bulbs (blue): Patio, Lawn & Garden


i use their 48" quad bulb on my 110 5' tank, love it.

sorry, didnt read the OP entirely, i see that you want to stick with as few bulbs as possible. 

how about 4 36" ray 2s?


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

foster said:


> option 2 looks good, however it will leave some darker areas on the ends of the tank. I am using 2 48" fixtures on 2-40breeder tanks that are close together on a 125 stand. I ended up buying a custom 4 bulb 24" fixture to cover the unlit 2 ft. section of the tank. Works very well. My 48" fixtures are 3 bulb that I bought at Home Depot for $34 a piece. LOTS of light!!


How bad we're the dark areas? I'd like to stick with four bulbs to keep replacement cost down but I think another 24" fixture is the backup plan.


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

Sean W. said:


> how about two 36" fixtures, or three 24" fixtures..
> 
> 3 of these
> 
> ...


Those are about $100 a piece after shipping. I'm looking at $12 shop lights retrofitted in my hood.


----------



## jstehman (Dec 13, 2010)

Depends on your scape really. If you want uniform lighting, go with option 3.

Or.. make a really cool center part and do option 2. Brighter in the middle darker on the outsides.

I'm running one 48" T8 shoplight in the center of my 125 and I'm getting pretty decent light considering I only have crypts dwarf sag and one sword. The ends are darker because my fish like the darker portions.


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

jstehman said:


> Depends on your scape really. If you want uniform lighting, go with option 3.
> 
> Or.. make a really cool center part and do option 2. Brighter in the middle darker on the outsides.
> 
> I'm running one 48" T8 shoplight in the center of my 125 and I'm getting pretty decent light considering I only have crypts dwarf sag and one sword. The ends are darker because my fish like the darker portions.


Do you have a picture of how it looks? Are you running two or four bulbs?


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I like option 3 best for good coverage. If you're handy with electrical wiring (which I'm not LOL) then you might also consider putting the first two bulbs on a different switch from the 2nd 2 bulbs. This would give you LOTS of flexibility with your lighting/photoperiods- that flexibility can really help if you should run into algae issues and need to dial down lighting versus not want to lose viewing time.

Stick some decent reflectors behind them and you should have enough light to work with for a pretty nice low tech setup.

Have you considered the T5NOs rather than T8s? You can get those pretty cheap at either HD or Lowes, too.


----------



## Rush3737 (Jan 15, 2013)

Heh, it's too bad you don't have the hardscape in my 75. I have rock formations in the front right and back left, so option 2 would be absolutely perfect for that.

I know that this gets into a lot of lights, but if you're looking to go with T8's for most of it you could put them at one end, and use a short LED light or two width wise on the other end to cover that end.


----------



## nickao (Jul 2, 2013)

You can put the two shop lights all the way to the left/right and use two 6 inch brooder light


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

Rush3737 said:


> I know that this gets into a lot of lights, but if you're looking to go with T8's for most of it you could put them at one end, and use a short LED light or two width wise on the other end to cover that end.





nickao said:


> You can put the two shop lights all the way to the left/right and use two 6 inch brooder light


I'd be worried about different color temps from different types of bulbs. 

If anyone has any photos of a similar setup that would be awesome.


----------



## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

nickao said:


> You can put the two shop lights all the way to the left/right and use two 6 inch brooder light


I was going to say similar but use option one and put a CFL bulb. 

I don't think the color differences would be that great so It wouldn't be a worry to me. You can also try it for cheap if you have some sort of fixture you can temporarily put there to test, but you may need an extra set of hands.


----------



## foster (Sep 23, 2012)

This is what I'm using on the 2 40B tanks. The left side is lit well, the right is darker


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

Here's what I'm working with.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Have you picked out your ballast yet?

Or are you looking at buying light strips with ballasts already built in?


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

lauraleellbp said:


> Have you picked out your ballast yet?
> 
> Or are you looking at buying light strips with ballasts already built in?


Yeah, I'll probably just buy a couple complete light fixtures with the ballast already built in. Then just attach the fixture to the inside of the hood.


----------



## mmelnick (Mar 5, 2010)

Update:

I went ahead and tried 2 2 bulb T8 fixtures. One is to the right and one is slid to the left. The center of the tank has 4 tubes over it and each side has 2 but you really don't notice a difference. I thought I'd update this thread with some pictures for anyone who searches this in the future.

I still need to finish my hood and mount them in it so the lighting will probably get even more even once I have the fixtures raised off the water a bit. Right now they are just sitting on top the tank.


----------

