# light recommendation for blackwater tank



## ngrubich (Nov 29, 2011)

I've got a 90 gallon blackwater tank that was recently planted with NLJF and floaters, lighted with a few IKEA Jansjo lights to get that blackwater look. I was thinking about just going ahead and getting a LED light for the tank that would give me low/medium light to grow these plants better, but don't know which direction I should go.

I already looked at Hoppy's posts about PAR and whatnot, so I'm really just looking for some suggestions of a light that will grow the low-light plants I already have without being too bright for the tank (24" tall) to maintain the blackwater look to some extent. I was thinking about the fugeray.

Here's the tank:


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## ngrubich (Nov 29, 2011)

I'd be open to other ideas, like CFLs in dome lights but I don't know how safe/practical those things are since I don't have anywhere to clip/hang them.


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## ngrubich (Nov 29, 2011)

anyone?


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

ngrubich said:


> anyone?


Well.. LED's are point light sources.. so it is relatively easy to get spread/penetration to what you want.. 

I looked at some blackwater tanks but most don't use LEd.. Not sure why not.. 
What comes to mind is a track lighting system w/ narrow optics per emitter..allowing all sorts of high light/shade combinations.. 

Sorry just throwing stuff out there..


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## ngrubich (Nov 29, 2011)

I had played with the whole track system idea before but couldn't really make a design I liked / wanted to spend the time making.


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## mnemenoi (May 28, 2012)

Try some spotlight LEDs, mount them in a DIY canopy with some fans. Set them for your plants and create a dapplying effect of sunlight through the canopy. Here was a build thread that inspired me toward a blackwater biotope set up


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## ngrubich (Nov 29, 2011)

I went ahead and got two 8" dome lights with 13W 6500K CFL bulbs. I can see a lot better in the tank, although it may hard to tell on the picture. It did drown out some of the brown tint in the water, which I guess I can always add some more BWE.


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