# best light for a 20 gallon long



## LynnJ (Sep 19, 2007)

Check this site they have coralife http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=9


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## eon17 (Aug 30, 2007)

thanks! im gald i got a response keep em rollling...


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## eon17 (Aug 30, 2007)

ok one more question. what does a moonlight led do? only one watt seems like it is no good so i must just be stupid about them


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

Best bang for the buck.


Can't beat the quality there. Moonlight led's don't really _do_ anything. They are a cool effect, but are functionally useless for planted tanks.


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## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

I agree that AH supply is the best bang for the buck. The only problem is that the 20L is 30 1/4" long, and the AH lights are only 22" long. So, unless you have two sets and stagger them to the left and right, the ends of the tank will get less light. just my $0.02


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## eon17 (Aug 30, 2007)

I think I want to get the coralife one. would this be a good light to get? it looks like it has a blue buld from th pic. i dont know though
http://cgi.ebay.com/Coralife-30-65w...ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting


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## yoink (Apr 21, 2005)

eon17 said:


> I think I want to get the coralife one. would this be a good light to get? it looks like it has a blue buld from th pic. i dont know though
> http://cgi.ebay.com/Coralife-30-65w...ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting


You want the freshwater aqualight. Comes in a green box.
http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=213


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## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

The coralife 30" 65-watt would probably work just fine. The one in the picture has a 50/50 bulb (the blue part is the 50% actinic bulb). You would probably be better off looking for a coralife fixture with a 6700k bulb


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## eon17 (Aug 30, 2007)

oh ok I dont know about 50-50 lights. I am going to ask for the 30 inch 65 watt for cristmas. where do you think the cheapest place I could get that one is?


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## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

The freshwater coralife 6700k would be my choice. Bigals has it for less than hellolights
*http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...oralifefreshwateraqualightdeluxesingle30strip*


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## eon17 (Aug 30, 2007)

wow on sale!!! i wonder how to persuade my parents to let me buy it...not i only need to find money for substrate....ugh...i wish i was 16 the LFS owner told me he would have a job waiting for me when I tured 16 and now its only a few months away then buying things like this will be no problem!


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## eon17 (Aug 30, 2007)

thanks for all the help guys!! i really need to learn more about lighting! I know alot about tanks and can make low tech tank work great buy I haver had a tank with mroe than 1.5wpg!!!


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

Here's a Freshwater 2x24w HO T5 fixture by Current called the Nova Extreme T5 HO X2. It comes with a pink plant bulb and a 10,000K bulb. http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/236415/product.web
http://current-usa.com/novaextremet5hox2.html


















It's reflector is nothing like the better T5's, but the price is much lower at $69.

It suffers from the same problem that most 30" aquarium fixtures suffer from. The bulbs are designed to fit 24" aquariums. Please note that the picture is not a 30" fixture.

I have a 20g long that I'm working on. So, I know what you're facing.


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## eon17 (Aug 30, 2007)

or 69 shipped from big als with the sale


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## Fenton2 (Aug 13, 2007)

You asked about moonlights. They have no practical value, but they're a really cool aesthetic feature. They cast a pale, dim light down on the tank when the rest of the lights are off. Fish and plants look really good moving in and out of it. Personally, I think it's worth it. 

A few other things to consider.

1) As an owner of both coralife and current usa, I can tell you the quality on current usa is a little higher
2) Watts matter, but they don't matter as much as lumens. T5 puts out more lumens per watt than CF, so a lower wattage T5 fixture might still be better than a higher watt CF fixture. 
3) Actinics do you no good in a planted tank because the kelvin rating is way too high. So whichever light you buy, make sure they can furnish you with low kelvin rating lights for the planted tank with the fixture, since bulbs constitute a significant portion of the total cost of an aquarium light.


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## LynnJ (Sep 19, 2007)

yoink said:


> You want the freshwater aqualight. Comes in a green box.
> http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=213


What is the difference btn that light and the one on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/Coralife-30-65w-...photohost ing ? This one can't be use in freshwater tank? I am looking for a light and I just want to know before I got the wrong one.


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## Fenton2 (Aug 13, 2007)

Lynn, the one you're linking is the same fixture but it's got the saltwater bulbs in it. The fixture itself is the same. 

Here's a crash course on the difference. All light has something called a kelvin rating, and that refers to the color spectrum of the bulb. On one end, the end with low kelvins, you have light that's yellow, and on the other end, the really high kelvins, the light is blue. 

The corals that people keep in reef tanks need the higher kelvin light in order to grow properly. Saltwater fish also typically brighten under high kelvin lighting. That's why the saltwater fixtures come with one bulb that is 10,000 kelvin (middle of the spectrum) and an actinic bulb that is on the high (blue) end. 

Freshwater plants, on the other hand, need low kelvin bulbs in order to properly photosynthesize. You'll see freshwater setups that have bulbs in the 6,700 kelvin range. 

So in a nutshell, that's why you want the green box. Otherwise you'll just have saltwater bulbs you don't need and you'll have to lay out some cash to replace them with the freshwater bulbs.

Hope this helps.


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## LynnJ (Sep 19, 2007)

Fenton2 said:


> Lynn, the one you're linking is the same fixture but it's got the saltwater bulbs in it. The fixture itself is the same.
> 
> Here's a crash course on the difference. All light has something called a kelvin rating, and that refers to the color spectrum of the bulb. On one end, the end with low kelvins, you have light that's yellow, and on the other end, the really high kelvins, the light is blue.
> 
> ...


 
Thanks for your answer. It helps me much but I have already put a new thread asking more about light. I hope when you have time you will be able to give me more ideas. There are so many things outtherr I don't even know what is good and just affordable


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