# 40 gallon high light options



## alindeman1989 (Aug 9, 2009)

So after years outa the hobby I'm back and looking to set up a 40 gallon breeder I guess my question do I go with t5ho which I'm used(already contacted Catalina aquariums) or do I get a led set up. I was looking at the finned planted plus or a 24/7. On a 40 gallon breeder to be considered high lighting would i need 2 led fixtures due to how wide the 40? 

Cliff notes 
Led finnex planted plus or 24/7 or go t5ho?
3 bulb t5ho set up or 4 bulb t5ho set up? 
Would I need 2 fixtures from finnex for the 40 gallon breeder due to the width? 

Want the tank to be high light
Will be running co2 with a gla reg
And a ehiem 2217 filter 
Doesing with dry fertz from gla


----------



## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

depends how high you want to hang the fixture 
I have a 40g breeder and have 2 strips of LEDs on top, I get pretty good coverage. You could get a single fixture and just suspend it a bit higher, or something with wide angle optics 

what's your budget? 

LEDs are definitely great !


----------



## alindeman1989 (Aug 9, 2009)

Around 250ish. I was also looking at running a cheap oddysea however it's spelled t5ho and running some TEK individual reflectors
Wanna be able to grown hc and various others with no issue


----------



## Willcooper (May 31, 2015)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=7881969

24/7 par info

I guess it depends on what you call high light. On a breeder with about 3" of substrate with the light directly on top it looks like you would be at 55-60 par directly under the light at the substrate. If you want that to be as throughout the tank as possible you would need 2 lights. The par drops quite a bit towards the front and back of a single light. The 36" light fixture may have slightly high par but prob not by a ton. I think this light will bring you into the med light range. You could go "build my led" for a led light that you can choose to make the par higher or go with t5ho for higher lighting. You can still probably grow all the plants you like with the finnex as long as all the other requirements are met for the plants.


----------



## WhiteRaven (Apr 12, 2016)

Go with LED. Cheaper operating cost and no 6 month bulb replacements. I went from from compact fluorescent to LED and never looked back. 

Finnex planted 24/7 are nice and I've got good growth from it after a month of use. Price and quality is good. I'd suggest two for wider tanks like 40 breeder. They do seem a little low on light at bottom of the tank in my 55ga. If you want more light, then look at the finnex Ray 2 ( Ray 2, not the sting Ray). Ray2 is their highest output light. I used a ray2 for years; it is definitely higher. light.


----------



## alindeman1989 (Aug 9, 2009)

I'm thinking of going led now was thinking of two Ray 2 lights. How is the light spectrum on those? Would that be over kill? 
Sorry so used to t5s leds are new to me. From what I read it's pretty similar to the planted plus but no red led. I'm gonna stick with my t5ho Catalina on my 55 and do a compare thread when the 40 gets going. What brand of t5ho bulbs your recommend. Currently running a 6700k 10k and a grow light on my 55 and it looks great and the plants seem to love it

Just discovered these 
http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Aquarium-Lighting-EVO-Quad-Freshwater-Plant-p/56576p.htm
http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Aquarium-Lighting-SnakesEyes-Freshwater-Plant-p/57726p.htm
These seem to be wider apart thus spreading the light across the board more could I get one of these and just run 1 light


----------



## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

alindeman1989 said:


> I'm thinking of going led now was thinking of two Ray 2 lights. How is the light spectrum on those? Would that be over kill?
> Sorry so used to t5s leds are new to me. From what I read it's pretty similar to the planted plus but no red led. I'm gonna stick with my t5ho Catalina on my 55 and do a compare thread when the 40 gets going. What brand of t5ho bulbs your recommend. Currently running a 6700k 10k and a grow light on my 55 and it looks great and the plants seem to love it
> 
> Just discovered these
> ...


you'd be pushing 90-120PAR at 21" w/ either of those..
And 2 RayII's.. Fairly equivalent..
Color is 6500k vs 7000k for the RayII's. 
both lack a bit in the red spectrum. Beamswioks can be more easily "reworked" (simple yet challenging DIY by substuting some of the diodes for warm whte)

One fixture is probably wider than 2 RayII's but of course they can be moved independently..


----------



## alindeman1989 (Aug 9, 2009)

Anyone have thoughts on the new fluval 2.0? I guess it's suppose to have 120 degree lighting and some pretty trick features as well as being full spectrum, lights are dimmable as well and I looked at the par and looks pretty good. They also have a pretty sweet timer that came out. Anyone know since being a 120 degree spred if I would need a second fixture or should one be enough?


----------



## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

I am sort of in the same boat, again, replacing my 40B with 2 90P (don't ask).

From my personal experience and reading the specs on LEDs, I bet I will end up with 2 strip per tank because of the spread. I don't think that even something like Current Satelite+ PRO with their 120 degrees lenses will get me even spread. I could reuse the 6-bulb high end T5 fixture from the 40B but I want identical fixtures.

I do like LED, a lot, and run a bunch of them on med-light tanks. With an 18" cube I ended up with 3 Current Satelites Planted+ just to get to "medium". And 3 fixtures do add up to serious $$$. With 17g I ended up with 2 of the same LEDs.

Given, people have different definitions of what "high light" is. I shoot for about 100 PAR at substrate and 500+ at the surface. So far, at these levels and budget, T5 appear to be my current best bet.

Certainly curious what you end up going with. Have fun.


----------



## jrygel (Jan 29, 2014)

OVT said:


> I am sort of in the same boat, again, replacing my 40B with 2 90P (don't ask).
> 
> From my personal experience and reading the specs on LEDs, I bet I will end up with 2 strip per tank because of the spread. I don't think that even something like Current Satelite+ PRO with their 120 degrees lenses will get me even spread. I could reuse the 6-bulb high end T5 fixture from the 40B but I want identical fixtures.




I'm using a DIY fixture that is 6" x 20" hung about 4-5" above the water on a 90P and get good coverage. There is definitely some shadowing from plants, but lighting is fairly even where the plants aren't in the way. I had thought about hanging two 24" bars above the tank before I desided to go DIY and I think this would have worked well also.


----------

