# Planted 75 gallon tank lighting suggestions



## carpedoodle (Aug 18, 2017)

Hi, I was looking for some insight on lighting for my aquarium. Your advice is much appreciated! ^-^
I currently have a 48"L x 18"W x 21"H 75 gallon tank with a 36" Marineland LED that it came with in addition to an ancient 12" Finnex. 

There is driftwood, Anubias, Anachris, Java Fern, Dwarf hairgrass, and a few plants that are possibly not aquatic but are sold as such(dracaena/ white ribbon, bamboo, etc.).

There are also 2 clown loaches(adding a couple more soon), a silver molly, 4 corys, 2 rosy longfin barbs, 2 odessa barbs, a golden algae eater, a brushy nose pleco, a rainbow shark, assassin snails, and trumpet snails. 

Filter is API Filstar XP and we turn on a couple air stones in the evening for about 5 hours. We were adding API CO2 booster daily but the fish were gasping so we're going to try it every 2-3 days. I also add Seachem Flourish every 3-4 days. We leave the lights on for about 12 hours a day, moonlight for about 5, and off for the night. 

Please let me know if I need to add any more specs - thanks for your help ^-^

more pics


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## Kampo (Nov 3, 2015)

knowing nothing about the specific model lights you have its hard to tell. my gut is prolly a bit dim. 48in beamswork lights DA or DHL models are good places to start for a resonably priced light.


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## carpedoodle (Aug 18, 2017)

Thanks for the reply, would that be better than something like the finnex 24/7 planted+ se? I noticed the beamswork is more specific on the types of light it generates so it made me question the light I had been thinking about since it only gets specific on the reds.


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## Kampo (Nov 3, 2015)

finnex 24/7 is a fine light. its a lot of money though imo. that said i'm cheap and keep a lot of tanks so bang for buck is what I go for. a beamswork DA/DHL light is about the same as a finnex par wise maybe a smidge more. depending on depth of tank. I had good luck with a 75gallong with a DA 6500k bemaswork light matched with a current sat + (pretty dim light but has nice color so had it on the tank too)


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## carpedoodle (Aug 18, 2017)

Thanks ended up taking your advice and ordering a beamswork da f spec 48in for the tank I'll post some before and after photos once I get mine in. Again thanks for the help those were less than half the cost.


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## carpedoodle (Aug 18, 2017)

Update, received my new light this is it plus the atonement 36in that came with the tank huge improvement even without continuing to use the old light


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## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

Your fish are gasping? API CO2 booster does not actually increase the amount of CO2 gas dissolved in the water, it only increases the amount of carbon available to the plants. It is a dilute glutaraldehyde solution which provides an alternate carbon source. If your fish are gasping then I would bet something else is the cause. The first though I had was that heater thermometers are often inaccurate so your temp could be running too high reducing the available amount of oxygen. What is the aquarium temperature?


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## carpedoodle (Aug 18, 2017)

Thanks for the info on the co2 booster, I actually you d a few issues since my last post, for 1 out heater was messing up causing not only varying temps sometimes too high but also shocking the water which is how we came to realize it was bad. 2 we installed a circulation pump, it's a convertible marine land maxi-jet 400 and although the flow is a bit more than anticipated this is what fixed the gasping issue, is it possible for too little circulation to have that effect or did the problem go away on its own and may return? Thanks for all the help on here I appreciate everyone sharing their wisdom.


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