# lighting for a 72''x30''x30'



## DaveK (Jul 10, 2010)

When you use LED pendant type lighting, like the Radion XR15, the light tends to direct itself more or less straight down, even with the wide angle lenses. You also have a tank that has a width about half the length. You'd be asking a lot of the fixture to light up an area about 30 inches long at the bottom of the the tank. You would also tend to see dark areas near the surface of the water. 

For a planted tank that is 72 x 30 x 30, I think I would want to use about 5 or 6 Radion XR15's and stagger them across the tank, first one toward the front, second to the back and so on, third to the front and so on. Yea, I know, this doubles what you were planning on spending on lighting. 

You could use just about any other good LED fixture, as long as you could control the individual colors. Most of the high end LED lighting is geared toward SW reefs, so if you can't make adjustments in the individual color channels, you get a tank much too blue for a planted tank.

The T5's your looking at would do good too. I use something similar on my 90 gal planted tank, but the bulbs are longer, so it's one fixture. I definitely get high light out of it. Since your tank is a lot wider than a 90 gal, you might want to consider four fixtures of 2 bulbs each, so you can spread the light out across the surface better. It would also be easy to add an additional fixture if you wanted even more light. 

LEDs are great lighting and I'd prefer them, but they can get expensive fast.


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## David P. (Feb 3, 2013)

Hi,

yeah i have considered more LED to have a better or more uniform lighting in the tank, but what i lean toward for the aquasquape does not require that, at least for the plants. the front of the tank (6 to 10'' in front) will not have a lot of plants. I want to have a jungle/mangrove type of set up, so fish can hide and swin between branches and drift woods (hard to explain, kinda like this for the drift wood but with more green: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UckghOmPoCk

The plants will get more dense from middle to the back, i will still have ~24'' of plants to light. The front section will have a mix of sand/gravel and rocks, than it will transition to the drift wood & plant section, probably ADA Africana or Malaya soil. 

but you are right, it might look unatural if i have uneven light fron the front to the back of the tank... might have to try!

any other good LED you have tried that i should look into ?

thanks


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

David P. said:


> Hi,
> 
> yeah i have considered more LED to have a better or more uniform lighting in the tank, but what i lean toward for the aquasquape does not require that, at least for the plants. the front of the tank (6 to 10'' in front) will not have a lot of plants. I want to have a jungle/mangrove type of set up, so fish can hide and swin between branches and drift woods (hard to explain, kinda like this for the drift wood but with more green:
> any other good LED you have tried that i should look into ?
> ...


Well you defined your tank size and defined a fixture "look", and defined basic goals but you haven't defined either a max price or a "function" i.e dimming.. color change ect..

But lets start w/ arguably cheapest first
1)Track light w LED spots/floods.. Dimmable or not
Good for being able to highlight areas. Relatively cheap.
Of course you could go nuts w/ things like Orphek spots and drive the cost up:
https://orphek.com/atlantik-p-planted-aquarium/
https://orphek.com/pr72-planted/








2)Strip light like this:
111556743197








Ignore the color in the above go w/
*



SE Quad 72" Timer 6500K 3W LED Aquarium Light Freshwater Plant Discus.... Includes 112 LEDs
15000 Lumen


Click to expand...

*$260
Won't give great f/b coverage for a 30" tank. Could be hung but would need to be at, say...1 foot above water line...but at wanting only 24" in the sweet spot you could go w/ 6-ish
Medium par at bottom of tank. 
dimming is possible but DIY..
[email protected] 72" dual fixtures would be more flexible..








6500k version in 72" not easily found at this time
Downside.. not high efficiency, one color..6500k
After that you go into the more expensive high function lighting i.e Buildmyled Dutch MC w/ controller.
Reefbreeders Photons w/ fw/ or custom spectrum. DSunY ect
Except for the DSuny you are going $1000-ish +/- a few hundred
For full coverage ect..
[email protected] Photon 24 put sideways across the 30" side:









Just the more common ones..
Note: Buildmyled used to have a Dutch MC (multi-channel) fixture. not seeing it anymore..???


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## David P. (Feb 3, 2013)

thanks, i will look into those.

as for the budget, i don't mind to spend a bit more for quality and reliability. i don't have a number in mind but i will not limit myself for now. I usualy look at mid to high end item for my project. Lighting has always been difficult for me to choose on my other tanks.

as for diming and light effects, i say why not. The basic i want is programmable photoperiod, but that's a basic fonction on most of the fixture i looked. Kids love the other option (blue lights for the nights, storm effects, etc)


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Out of all the models I lean to the DSunY for a few reasons 1)Fanless design (no overstressed diodes) 2)More of the fun features at a more reasonable price 3)can do custom spectrums. 

Negatives:
1)Harder to deal w/ a Chinese company 2)Turing controller has a "limit" (last I looked) of 10% dim increments
3) More industrial look..I guess..

for full power and some made in the USA stuff I'd favor Buildmyled.. WHEN they offered a multichannel fixture..I have to check into that one.
Fanless and above average quality.
Negatives: Use drivers w/ 10V dimming. You need a timer for their timer.. so to speak. Won't dim to zero or off.
Maybe you can see why I prefer to build my own.. 

I did have some hopes w/ the new Kessil but besides an otherworldy cost /watt it just isn't panning out as thumbs up. 

Whatever you decide you are going to need optics to get good light down to the 30" depth..

for fun.. old style 2 channel DSunY:
https://youtu.be/lkq9rr8NQtc


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## DaveK (Jul 10, 2010)

David P. said:


> Hi,
> 
> ...
> 
> ...


You might look into the Kessil pendants. Here is the one you'd likely be using - Kessil LED Lights

You could also look into the Al Hydra but it's geared very much toward SW reef systems and is expensive. - Hydra HD Series » AquaIllumination®

A lot of this depends on how fancy you want the lighting to be. Some of them can emulate overcast days or thunder storms or the amount of light the moon puts out at night. This is a lot more than most people need, but it does give you stuff to brag about (grin).


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

I've had the BMLs multichannel and they were great. Can't go wrong with that route. 

I switched to aquatic life Halos though and love them. Similar to the kessils but better color I think and a built in controller. No need to spend extra for a controller like kessil does. 

The mounting arms are better too with cable hiding. Here they are on my tank. They also come with 80 and 110 degree lenses. 










Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

bsantucci said:


> I switched to aquatic life Halos though and love them. Similar to the kessils but better color....(fixed it for you.. ) and a built in controller. No need to spend extra for a controller like kessil does.
> 
> The mounting arms are better too with cable hiding. Here they are on my tank. They also come with 80 and 110 degree lenses.
> 
> ...


Opp's I did forget about those... Things DO change fast nowadays...

NOW When they get a fanless version..................... 

BTW: Are the fans on any controlled circuit (software or otherwise) or just "on"..???


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

jeffkrol said:


> Opp's I did forget about those... Things DO change fast nowadays...
> 
> NOW When they get a fanless version.....................
> 
> BTW: Are the fans on any controlled circuit (software or otherwise) or just "on"..???


Haha good correction. Color is an opinion but I didn't want to over state. They do kill kessil though haha. 

Honestly the fan isn't a bother. It's in my living room and is white noise. They must be on a controlled circuit cause they only turn on when at higher levels. Under like 20 percent and moonlight and they don't run. 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


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## gus6464 (Dec 19, 2011)

bsantucci said:


> I've had the BMLs multichannel and they were great. Can't go wrong with that route.
> 
> I switched to aquatic life Halos though and love them. Similar to the kessils but better color I think and a built in controller. No need to spend extra for a controller like kessil does.
> 
> ...


Is that the apex ph probe in the back right of the tank? If so, they don't recommend dipping it entirely in water.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

gus6464 said:


> Is that the apex ph probe in the back right of the tank? If so, they don't recommend dipping it entirely in water.


It is and yeah I know. Stupid suction cup keeps coming off. It works just fine though fully submerged. I use it just for a rough idea of co2 levels anyway and its old. Need to replace it. Saw a nice magnetic probe rack I may splurge on. 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


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## David P. (Feb 3, 2013)

Thanks all guys,

i finally went with 2x kessil A160WE. only two because i went to a 85g tank. will postpone my 300g project to later.

they seem to do a great job.


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