Lighting for a 62 inch tank

[axl]

Hi,
i have a new tank which is 115g in size and 62 incles long. Looking at setting it up to a planted discus tank. What is the cheapest light available thats going to give me around 2.5 - 2.7 watts per gallon. Not going to put Co2 in it. This is a hard 1 because the length on the tank is abnormal. Where do i start looking for lights. Do i go for a t5 or t8 or go Metal Halide dont no. Cheers axl

[ellwa]

thats not an abnormal size.

its 5ft.

[axl]

i think most lights come in 60inch and this tank is 62 inch

[ellwa]

and 5cm is of great consequence?

does it have lids? or are you going to have it as an open tank?

is it 52" along the front glass? how thick is the glass? I'd imagine between 10-12mm
so you'd probably be looking at closer to 61" all said and done...

[axl]

it does have lids and it has got 10mm glass. The tank is at my mates house so i willl have to exactly measure it. There will be no canopy on the tank

[axl]

problaly not so where do i get the cheapest light from and how much is it going to cost with roughly 2.5 - 2.8 wpg of light

[ellwa]

http://www.aquariumsuppliesaustralia.com.au

[oscar]

Have a look on E-Bay, search "Metal Halide".

There is usually a guy selling lights that are more targeted at marine as they are a combo of MH, T5, and LEd Moon light. Just swap the T5 actinitcs our for a 6,500 or 10,000 K bulbs and you'll be laughing. You can hang them from the roof if you want.

He hasn't got any listed ATM but keep checking back.

Off the top of my head somewhere aroun $250 will get you sorted out.

I don't have any of these units, but have seriously considered them for a marine tank, you'll find a fairly extensive thread at this forum:

http://www.masa.asn.au

Search for "Seemingly good cheep lighting".

[shewey]

How deep is your tank? It sounds like it is probably a 18 inch high or thereabouts? If you are making this a Discus tank and its not 24 inch high I would probably say you don't need to go for metal halides. I would avoid the T8s too, but a bank of T5's would do the job nicely.

Cheers,
Mark.

[axl]

Hey Mark,
where is the cheapest place you no to buy t5 lights from???

[ellwa]

http://www.aquariumsuppliesaustralia.com.au

or ebay.
just search for aquaium light.

[shewey]

Yep, I agree with Elliot. ebay or ASA.

[Proteus]

Yep, I agree with Elliot. ebay or ASA.

Or Age of Aquariums

:wink:

[enigmatic]

I've also got a 5ft tank and just waiting to get my hands on a Aqualina Double Compact reflector 60inch. This uses 2 x 96w 2 x 55w tubes which should be more than enough IMHO.