PlanetCatfish.com

Hi All,

Some help from your combined wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Up to now I have always used tubes in my 2 foot and 3 foot breeding tanks and my 4 foot community show tanks.

At last I have taken delivery of a new 6 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot show tank, with moulded rock background, extending down both ends of the tank.

I have been looking at the options for lighting, but kind of getting lost in all the info.

Am I right in thinking max aquarium tube length is 5 foot?
I have been thinking of the led strips available also

Could anyone give details of how they light their 6 foot tanks and their recommendations.

The tank with either be large geophagus or discus, yet to be decided, some planting to give fish cover and maybe a few specimen plants

As the tank cost so much, cheaper but adequate lighting suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks
Stuey

I had a 6' heavily planted tank that I ran 3x twin bulb 48" fixtures. And another one that I spaced out 6 individual T5 fixtures evenly.
Those were the easy methods, but I've always wanted to do an LED build.

Stuey
I've got a 5' and am moving to LEDs. There's a chap on another fish-keeping forum making them to measure, in any shape/design you want. I'm just going to two lengths (one front, one back) as I have a central glass support. For a standard planted tank, he only recommends 10 LEDs per strip (as they are bright and have a good spread) but this increases if you have a heavily planted tank that uses CO2 etc. Price for me was a factor and was very pleased with the quote. They are almost made but am away next week on holiday so will have to collect after I return.
I'm looking forward to seeing them in action!
Martin