Lighting

[moody87]

Hey all. I was cleaning my tank today and noticed one of my light fittings was broken. The light was a 4ft dual tube fluro. So now I'm after new lighting. The tank is a 5x2x2 non planted American tank. Do I just go the fluros again or a t5? Do I need more tubes in a t5 as I have seen them up to 8 tubes. What are the difference between the 2 and what would give the best results. Sorry for all the questions but I'm A lil confused.

Thanks heaps

Aaron

[moody87]

Is t8 just the regular tubes?

[Priscacara]

T8 is the run of the mill tubes you get from most aquariums and is the standard ones you get when you buy a new setup. T5 is the next step up with stronger output (and bit more running costs etc), I had always thought they would fit into the standard fixtures but found out they dont its a completely different fixture needed.

Hope I got that right, plenty of space under the tanks to hide if I've just embarassed myself though :-)

[GRK-351]

if you arent growing plants your choice is pretty much down to personal prefernce in terms of lighting appearance and cost. i prefer the cool white fluros as they dont give you the yellow tinge.

I have gone down the led route. check out this thread for some pics and if you are interested I can supply some lights for you also

http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=50540

[Priscacara]

The topic reminded me I need to replace the 3 foot t8 tubes for a new tank. Instead of going to the lfs I went to a shop thats been excellent for decades with pricing and supplying any sort of tubes and lights you would need. Just about died when they wanted to charge me $26 each for a 3 foot tube. Looks like the place is under new management or maybe passed it to other members of the family but they have lost me for sure. I'd rather go to the chain store down the road and be ripped off..........saves on petrol if nothing else :-).

Also tried the online store I use as well as other stores but looks like a push towards T5's nowadays as thats all I could find.