# Deep tank lighting



## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

Maybe a metal halide fixture? Most LED's dont penetrate that deep. Maybe make your own fixture with powerful LED's? Kessil?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Doing anything with 36-48 inch high tanks is a whole different ball game from doing it with our typical less than 24 inch high tanks. I suggest looking for forums that feature giant tanks, to see what is typical for those. Also, invest in a good quality swim suit, a good snorkel/face mask, perhaps swim fins, etc. You will probably become very familiar co-swimmers with the fish.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

sohankpatel said:


> Maybe a metal halide fixture? Most LED's dont penetrate that deep. Maybe make your own fixture with powerful LED's? Kessil?


A DIY Fixture was going to most likely be mandatory. 



Hoppy said:


> Doing anything with 36-48 inch high tanks is a whole different ball game from doing it with our typical less than 24 inch high tanks. I suggest looking for forums that feature giant tanks, to see what is typical for those. Also, invest in a good quality swim suit, a good snorkel/face mask, perhaps swim fins, etc. You will probably become very familiar co-swimmers with the fish.


I will definitely take this advice. I've been on another site with monster tanks, going through their information. Lighting is still very much undefined. As for co-swimming, it is a necessity. This is a future project for a basement. About 3-5 years out. I presume technology will change. I'm going to visit some aquariums between now and then and see what kind of lighting they use. Many large tanks that keep monster fish are plantless. 

My most recent tank was 32" from lighting to substrate and I was using some cheap 13w CFLs with excellent growth. This will be deeper, so I'm sure I'll have to increase the lighting.


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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

Freemananana said:


> A DIY Fixture was going to most likely be mandatory.


I remember seeing someone who strapped 6 100w? (Some massive wattage) LED's to a aluminum bar and used them as a flashlight, the PAR on that thing would have been insane if used in a fish tank.


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## GreenT (Jan 2, 2016)

I've been looking at these.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

I would use Metal Halide or T5's. If you're closer to the 48" then I'm not sure. I use T5's on my 32" inch height tank.


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I hang my LED 40" off the substrate already but I need to do that to get light into the upper corners of the tank. I also only need to run it at 40% power to get the same PAR as the old 150 watt MH, each cluster is supposed to be equivalent to a 250 watt MH. Since you are looking for low light you can go LED just fine. The number of units is going to kill you though, I am sure if you put in a tall tank it will also be deep. Might want to look into daisy chained panels like DSunY from evilbay.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Freemananana said:


> Just looking for opinions and such. But what would you use to light a deep planted tank? Low lighting needs, depth between 36" and 48". I've seen some extremely deep planted tanks at aquariums and theme parks, no clue what lighting they use. Appearance isn't a priority, so LEDs for the fixture appeal isn't really a consideration. However, LEDs for the intensity are a consideration. Tank is obviously quite large (length and width), so there is a budget on the lighting.
> 
> I'm looking forward to the discussion.


Tanks that big need output AND focus..
That said enough LED PAR spot lights would be no problem.
Think about flashlights for a minute (since it was mentioned..)

You can throw a beam across the room and the center may be 5 PAR BUT,considering the distance..
764 LUX x .015 = 11.46 PAR 
(rough conversion)
From a single "normal" bulb incandescent (19.2V .6A =11.5W and like .2 efficiency, about equal to a 2w focused LED) flashlight at 4 ft..
That said you certainly won't get that w/ a .5W LED w/ a 120 degree beam angle..

so for 40PAR an 8w LED would give that If focused the same.. Granted over a 4-6" square area..


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## johnenrui (Nov 27, 2015)

I have a 2.5ft high planted tank using DIY many strips of LED. I managed to get some growth of Monte Carlo so I guess it is working haha.

You guys should post photos of your tank!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

jeffkrol said:


> Tanks that big need output AND focus..
> That said enough LED PAR spot lights would be no problem.
> Think about flashlights for a minute (since it was mentioned..)
> 
> ...


I'm probably looking at 20-30 par at substrate. The lighting will also taper off where plant mass is lacking. I'll definitely keep high wattage LEDs in mind.

To explain a little bit more, I do plan on having large hardscape present. These means par will be extreme near the surface if I lit the tank uniformly. So it will probably be a combination of lights with varying intensity so I can have different zones of lighting throughout the tank. I do plan on having a bit of open sand swimming space and that will likely require only viewing lighting. 

Is that plausible? Or am I completely dreaming on that idea.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Freemananana said:


> Is that plausible? Or am I completely dreaming on that idea.


W/ LED's the tech exists to control each diode individually....
Zoning functions are almost unlimited..
Now setting it up is another story..

Like mini-stage lighting for a tank.
Example of this..
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12027


> You will be able to control each LED RGB individually giving you the ability to create cool lighting effects for your car, fish tank, or perhaps under cabinet lighting in your kitchen!


Ok small emitters.. but.........


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Controlling each diode individually is a software side that I'm completely unfamiliar with. I will definitely research that as I move forward. I was going off of hardware changes with my prior thinking. 

I'm trying to extrapolate some par readings for fixtures to see what their relative par would be at 36".


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

This is what I did on my 150G Tall tank: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/677209-par38-led-light-bar-150g-tall-planning.html

The lights are over 30 inches from the substrate. I cut down to only 2 of the lights. The spotlighting effect isn't so good with only two, but everything is growing. With 4 I was having algae troubles. Ideally I would find myself a dimmer (yes, they are dimmable LEDs) but I haven't been able to find one I can plug in, and I'm not very handy with electric. That would allow me to increase the number of bulbs again, which would decrease the spotlighting. Honestly though, its way worse in photos than in person.

The 2 bulb setup cost me about $60; Bulbs: $35, Track: $5, Cord: $8, Fixtures: $12. Makes me think a lot of people are over thinking this.

I added LED tape for after hours viewing.


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## skanderson (Jul 25, 2010)

I'm considering a similar sized build. my current plan is for a 72" wide by 140" long by 45" deep tank. I am planning on 6 250 watt mh lights down the center of the tank using lumenbright mini fixtures, and diy strips of leds angled slightly inward on both sides of the tank. I am going to start by making led clusters around a vero 19 emitter every foot of length. I may end up with around 1600 watts of leds and 1500 watts of mh. I think I will run the leds for around 11 hours with a slow sunrise sunset ramp and then put the mhs on for about 4 hours in the middle of the day. when I get my new power supply I will post a thread about the test clusters with pics. for me the most important part of your plan is the timing. I would wait until a few months before your build to decide on what to use to light it. it is possible that in 3 years we will have 95+ CRI emitters that do over 100 lumens per watt.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

vanish said:


> This is what I did on my 150G Tall tank:


:smile2: I actually just read through your thread again while searching deep tanks. 

My 13w CFLs had good growth at 32" and my 23w CFLs grew spiral vals faster than I could image. They did produce a fair amount of algae even at 32" to substrate. 

I was looking at the par data on the Ray2 and similar lights such as the Evo Green 6500k. They produce more par than I need at 24", but at 36" they may be a little low. By overlapping multiple runs of fixtures, it starts to add up to a better lighting.

I'm also beginnging to think about minimal ground planting and go with java fern and anubias towards the top of the tank with only tall plants such as spiral vals actually on the bottom of the tank. 

The MH idea isn't really something I'm a huge fan of. Not because of the intimidation factor as much as energy costs and the heat output of those lights. The bulb cost is also pretty high.

I'm leaning towards LEDs on this primarily due to the size and replacing dozens of bulbs every year will likely catch up to the cost of LEDs soon. 

I do plan on waiting until after the tank is in place, hardscaped, and cycling before buying lights. So that's a ways out. I would just like to do some research for budgetary reasons. 

Also, I'd love to see the 2500g tank you described skanderson. haha. I'm planning a long tank to house bala sharks. I think they are under appreciated fish due to their size and often abused because of that fact also.

I'm super stalking Tom Barr's setups. There are several that are quite interesting and similar in depth.


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