[gre]

I am putting together a 120g 72" long with a wood canopy. I am going to use the Nova T-5 Retrofit Kit for the lighting. What would you recommend for the length of lighting. 1 X 48" 2 X 36" or 3 X 24" length light strips? I will be using two of each one for the 10,000K daylight and one for the 460NM Actinic. thanks.

 

[Rick_Lindsey]

Do you want to get fancy and try to simulate sunrise and sunset? If so, I'd go 3x24" otherwhise I'd probably do 2x36". I suspect you'll find the bulb price for 24" vs 36" is about the same, so you'll save money on bulbs with fewer longer fixtures. I wouldn't do a single 4' light in a 6' tank unless you like shadows in the corner. If these are refit kits though I suppose you could stagger the two 48" bulbs such that they reach both ends and overlap in the middle? That would only work if you're willing to run the same bulb in each. Without knowing the respective costs of the fixtures and their bulbs though, it's hard to give an educated recommendation.

-Rick (the armchair aquarist, who assumes these are double-bulb refit kits?)

 

[jcushing]

2 36's or it will be dark on the sides. or go with screw in CF bulbs (wont be able to vary your bulb color much with these though)

 

[Rick_Lindsey]

2 36's or it will be dark on the sides. or go with screw in CF bulbs (wont be able to vary your bulb color much with these though)

Have you tried the screw-in CF bulbs, jcushing? I'm considering them for my 29, just because it'd be cheap to set up.

-Rick (the armchair aquarisT)

 

[jcushing]

i have, in my 30. its a 36" length tank with a 30" hood. i was able to fit 3 14w CF 6k daylight bulbs into a perfecto plastic hood casing. lights the tank well and it totals about 42W. significantly brighter than my single 20w T8 that it came with.

for my 5ft long 110 im going with 8 of the same screw in bulbs since 5ft is a weird size, i woulda had to buy a 3ft and a 2ft T8 fixture. buying more than 1 fixture and multiple buls jacks the price up.