I am looking for recommendations for led light for my 75 gallon tank. I currently have no plans for this to a planted tank maybe a plant or two but that is it.
Oldfishkeeper
Not many recommendations I can offer you in lighting a fish-only tank, other than - LESS.
Whaa....?!!
Without plants to power up with a required intensity and spectrum of lighting, the only real goal of aquarium lighting will be to provide a suitable source of light to help you maintain the tank in cleaning, maintenance, etc.... and to make the fish look good.
So, to that end...
Almost ALL fish-only tanks out there are just VASTLY over-lit. Most fish in general, and Cichlids in particular, prefer lighting in the aquarium that is - DIM. Lighting conditions that are just dark and kind of soothing. There is a reason that most of the activity and business going on in a Cichlid-only tank happens after lights out. So, I would recommend getting pretty cheap stuff to light an African Mbuna tank. Nothing that elaborate. One of my favorite lighting 'systems' for an aquarium was with two, hang-on-wall halogen track lights mounted above a 55 gallon aquarium. I placed floating, silk 'lily pads' in the tank to move around in the current, and the tank and fish under that lighting just looked incredible under those moving shadows! It was kind of a dark and spooky look, and the Cichlids really seemed to like it.
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I CAN offer you some specific recommendations on placing Live Aquatic Plants in the aquarium though. DON'T. Your herbivorous Mbuna may be inclined to look at even tough Anubias types as a sort of all-you-can salad bar or something. And even worse, if you don't have enough plants in there to support each other (go all out?), they WILL eventually be overcome by the Algae Monster and die. The choice to go with Live Aquatic Plants in an aquarium is best described by the old saying,
'GO BIG, OR GO HOME'.
Whaa....?!!
Without plants to power up with a required intensity and spectrum of lighting, the only real goal of aquarium lighting will be to provide a suitable source of light to help you maintain the tank in cleaning, maintenance, etc.... and to make the fish look good.
So, to that end...
Almost ALL fish-only tanks out there are just VASTLY over-lit. Most fish in general, and Cichlids in particular, prefer lighting in the aquarium that is - DIM. Lighting conditions that are just dark and kind of soothing. There is a reason that most of the activity and business going on in a Cichlid-only tank happens after lights out. So, I would recommend getting pretty cheap stuff to light an African Mbuna tank. Nothing that elaborate. One of my favorite lighting 'systems' for an aquarium was with two, hang-on-wall halogen track lights mounted above a 55 gallon aquarium. I placed floating, silk 'lily pads' in the tank to move around in the current, and the tank and fish under that lighting just looked incredible under those moving shadows! It was kind of a dark and spooky look, and the Cichlids really seemed to like it.
-
I CAN offer you some specific recommendations on placing Live Aquatic Plants in the aquarium though. DON'T. Your herbivorous Mbuna may be inclined to look at even tough Anubias types as a sort of all-you-can salad bar or something. And even worse, if you don't have enough plants in there to support each other (go all out?), they WILL eventually be overcome by the Algae Monster and die. The choice to go with Live Aquatic Plants in an aquarium is best described by the old saying,
'GO BIG, OR GO HOME'.
100% agree with Auballagh above!
however, if you want an amazing looking tank, get a Fluval aquasky. Set it in pro-mode and program away. It will take some tweaking, but is the most programmable light out there. I especially recommend long evenings of red+blue. Almost no algae and beautiful fish! Most people haven’t spent the time playing with the settings to discover what their tank can look like. No other light that I’ve seen comes close.
![Image]()
however, if you want an amazing looking tank, get a Fluval aquasky. Set it in pro-mode and program away. It will take some tweaking, but is the most programmable light out there. I especially recommend long evenings of red+blue. Almost no algae and beautiful fish! Most people haven’t spent the time playing with the settings to discover what their tank can look like. No other light that I’ve seen comes close.
I’ve been using the current led 48” from A on my 90 gallon, I have it on a timer, works great <$150
Dim light, in addition to being more natural for the fish will go a LONG way toward managing unwanted algae. Fish that move more are not necessarily more comfortable in their surroundings.
That is indeed correct.
However…..
Water turbidity caused by current and wave actions can reduce light levels pretty substantially. And, where the Cichlids are down in and amongst those rocks, the shadowing effect reduces light from the surface a lot. And yes, in diving videos you see them grazing out on those bright, sunlit rocks. But, in the ‘blink’ of an eye, they’ll spook and be down in those rocks faster than a blur!
Strong light makes Cichlids feel exposed in nature, and helps daytime predators see them (primarily birds attacking from above…. but @dstuer is dealing with his own, quite predatory cat problem it seems during the day).
However…..
Water turbidity caused by current and wave actions can reduce light levels pretty substantially. And, where the Cichlids are down in and amongst those rocks, the shadowing effect reduces light from the surface a lot. And yes, in diving videos you see them grazing out on those bright, sunlit rocks. But, in the ‘blink’ of an eye, they’ll spook and be down in those rocks faster than a blur!
Strong light makes Cichlids feel exposed in nature, and helps daytime predators see them (primarily birds attacking from above…. but @dstuer is dealing with his own, quite predatory cat problem it seems during the day).
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