# Light for a 30" deep 150G



## Quagulator (May 4, 2015)

TLeTourneau said:


> Hello all,
> 
> We picked up the PetSmart 150 gallon kit on sale ($475 before tax). It included the tank (48x24x30), the stand, glass tops, and a 48" dual bulb 80W florescent fixture (currently with two Marineland branded T10 daylight bulbs). what I am trying to figure out is if the fixture is anywhere near usable for a 30" tall aquarium and if it could take a Floramax T8. I would ideally like to use a Finnex Planted+ 24/7 CC at some point as I really like the product but I have PAR concerns about that as well. We mostly do low-mid light plants focusing on Amazon Swords and Anubias, and Wisteria.
> 
> ...


Depending on your level of DIY you could pick up some cheap LED floodlights for the "umph" and a planted+ cc for color/effects/supplemental lighting. Or you could go with an amazon or home depot 4 bulb T5-HO and run it strictly for PAR and have a finnex for color/effects/supplemental lighting.


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## imaginary-friend (Aug 10, 2012)

Hello,

I have a 110 that is 30" deep. I ended up getting an evo quad 48" 64 watts x 3 from ebay that seems allright. It has two seperate power supplies that can be on different timers. Mine has no moonlights or dimming capability. My first choice was sbreef lights but for $129, I thought i would give the ebay light a try. I still struggle with algae and trying to get the balance of light intensity vs duration. But my anubias, crypts and ferns seem to be liking what i have right now. My amazon sword is in rough shape, maybe from too little light or maybe they need more fertilizer? The stem plants i tried all got really leggy with bare bottoms and if they got close enough to the light got algae. I put a picture of my tank as an attachment. 
If you want more pics send me your email and i will send you some more.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

I as well have a tall 110g which I used a Catalina 4 bulb T5 fixture. 

Imaginary I found that running two bulbs for 6 hour photoperiod allowed me to minimize algae.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

I suppose paying as much for the lights as the tank isn't quite "reasonable"..
https://sbreeflights.com/16-freshwater-plant-lights/41-sbox-pro-16-timer.html

but you can grow basically anything you want..




> evo quad 48" 64 watts x 3


Very good cheap alternative and can, w/ some DIY be dimmed or programmed..


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## TLeTourneau (Jan 1, 2017)

Thanks for the replies! I will look into the t5 solutions. The Odyssea T5 Quad Timer 6500K Aquarium Light HO looks interesting even though the reviews are somewhat mixed.

I ordered the Odyssea T5 Quad Timer 6500K Aquarium Light HO, I figured for the price it's worth a try.


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## TLeTourneau (Jan 1, 2017)

On all of my previous planted aquariums I've used Finnex Planted+ 24/7's so I haven't really had to be concerned about spectrum. The florescent fixture has four bulbs on two channels (plus a third LED moonlight channel) each channel is on its own timer. The four florescent bulbs are 6500k according to the specifications.

That leads me to my next question, should I replace any of the florescent bulbs with plant bulbs or red shifted bulbs? If so, should it be one bulb, one bulb on each channel, or two bulbs on one channel?

I will keep researching but any advice would be truly appreciated!

Also, I have seen that some people aren't crazy about the fixture or the included bulbs but that is not my primary concern at the moment. I went with a fixture that I could afford at the moment that should provide the light needed so please refrain from telling me that the purchase was a mistake, I weighed the options against my budget and went with what I thought was the most reasonable choice. It may give me a physical base to upgrade from or may be replaced in the future. For those who would not criticize the purchase I apologize for the extra reading, I am just hoping to curtail the potential for replies that attempt to inform me of what a horrible choice I have made. [emoji3]



Sent from my SM-T817V using Tapatalk


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## Quagulator (May 4, 2015)

TLeTourneau said:


> On all of my previous planted aquariums I've used Finnex Planted+ 24/7's so I haven't really had to be concerned about spectrum. The florescent fixture has four bulbs on two channels (plus a third LED moonlight channel) each channel is on its own timer. The four florescent bulbs are 6500k according to the specifications.
> 
> That leads me to my next question, should I replace any of the florescent bulbs with plant bulbs or red shifted bulbs? If so, should it be one bulb, one bulb on each channel, or two bulbs on one channel?
> 
> ...


I have grown plants very well with all lights @ ~6000-6700k, all lights at 10,000K, using red/pink grow bulbs etc etc. I would like to send you a link to a member here who primarily does not use white lights. Good thread with some good information. 

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...-gal-dutchy-freestyle-now-50%-more-dutch.html


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## AdamRT (Jan 23, 2018)

I know this is an older thread, but I am also setting up a 150xh hi tec tank and am aiming for medium/high light and wanted to see how the quad t5 worked out for you? 

I went with two 6000-6500k led reefbar pro’s (126w each run on sunsetters) and a quad t5 timer light. The Reefbars use 3w diodes with 90 degree secondary lenses which should give the necessary amount of light penetration to the substrate, and the t5’s will be used to balance out the spectrum. 

If you are still looking for the right t5 bulb combo, you might want to check out a site called “full spectrum solutions”. All of their t5’s have 90+ cri (which is only an aesthetic consideration, but does imply a broad spectral output from each bulb) and are relatively inexpensive. I ordered one 10k hd aquarium bulb (96 cri), one bluemax hd 5900k (93 cri), one maxsun 5000k (93 cri), and two “sunset” 3500k (96 cri) so I can play around with the combo a little to offset the led colors. 

The bulbs are around $9 each so it didn’t cost much to get several color bulbs to mess with. 

While I like the high cri options, I am also going to pick up a wavepoint ultra growth Incase I need more red to balance out the color. I’ve used this bulb for horticulture and really like that it covers the 660nm peak which is really useful in that application. 

I’ll do a review on the high cri full spectrum bulbs when they arrive, but thought it was worth sharing now given the price point and available color options.


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## TLeTourneau (Jan 1, 2017)

The T5HO's were alright as was the fixture and provided enough light for our needs although the fans were a bit noisier than we liked. We changed the lighting to a pair of Kessil A360WE Tuna Sun's that are working very well for us and that we can control using the Neptune Apex controller that we use.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

TLeTourneau said:


> We changed the lighting to a pair of Kessil A360WE Tuna Sun's that are working very well for us and that we can control using the Neptune Apex controller that we use.





> I guess I am looking for "reasonably" priced lighting that will work with a low tech low-mid light 30" deep aquarium.


Well so much for that.. 
Glad you got it sorted out.. 


sorry coudn't resist..


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## TLeTourneau (Jan 1, 2017)

jeffkrol said:


> Well so much for that..
> Glad you got it sorted out..
> 
> 
> sorry coudn't resist..


Well, the Radions would have been more expensive. 

After we got the Kessil's for our saltwater tank we were impressed and just decided to go for it. Fortunately the Kessil's are (or were) on sale so that helped a little. 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


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## Stokely (Jan 9, 2015)

I checked out that same kit in petsmart (or at least something very similar)--WOW, it would be a challenge to plant (or do anything near the tank bottom). I'm a tall guy and even so I'd need a ladder...and unfortunately I'm a heavy guy as well so I could see a disaster looming (literally) from me leaning on a ladder over a big fish tank  I guess once you plant hopefully you aren't mucking about much...I love the way the tall tanks look, especially with a big driftwood piece or stump going up near the surface. I may split the difference between my current 75g/125g height and the 150, maybe a 4-ft 120. I think now that I've seen the extra depth I can't go back to 18" deep


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## Sub-Mariner (Jan 25, 2016)

For whatever it's worth, I've used the Odyssea T5HO 4 bulb fixture in the 72" form, along with the EVO Quad LED 3W (also in 72" form) on my 150g. The Odyssea was great, and had its own built in timer with moon light LEDs. Never a single functional issue. I simply needed a bit more light so I went for the EVO because it was affordable. 
The EVO was great for a while, and about 90 days ago the diodes started to fail (had it about two years). Instead of buying another (still affordable) I decided to swing for the fences and bought three of the A360WE Tuna Suns from Kessil.


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## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

Quagulator said:


> TLeTourneau said:
> 
> 
> > Hello all,
> ...


 the flood is all thats needed tbh. Its all I use. 
<a href="https://ibb.co/cQh8kS"><img src="https://thumb.ibb.co/cQh8kS/20180325_171502.jpg" alt="20180325_171502" border="0"></a>


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## TLeTourneau (Jan 1, 2017)

I know it's been a while but we tried an Odyssea T5 Quad Timer 6500K Aquarium Light HO Freshwater Plant Discus light. While is was alright it had some issues with the timer. We changed over to a pair of Kessil A360WE Controllable LED Aquarium Light controlled by a Neptune Apex Classic. The Kessil's have been great and look good, although they are not inexpensive.


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