Which light do you think?....

[gasteriaphile]

I am considering buying one of two Hydro-farm fluorescent lights. One is 125 watts and the other 200w. See below for photo of the hood and light. These appear to be compact fluorescents and the hood itself is only 20 inches long. I like this system because of its attractiveness as this vivarium will be going in my office. But I just have no idea which strength I need for my 29 gallon glass former-aquarium tank. It is 30" long, 12" wide and 18" deep. Any ideas will be appreciated, Breck

[Gold3nku5h]

Have you ever seen these things? Im not for sure if this is one i've dealt with, but im a very good friend of an owner of a hydroponic shop, and setup lights for them quite abit, not to mention am around alot of them. These are usually about 6 inches tall, and however deep or long. I can tell you that bulb is about 3 inches in diameter. You should go with T5's if you can, they are the same technology, but alot thinner. I can give you a link to a good set of lights that you may be interested in..

Sunleaves Pioneer II Jr T5 by Horizen Hydroponics

My friend has a set of these, and they are really nice, i love the compact design.
The only thing is they dont fit aquarium sizes to well, but thats not what they are made for.. I bought a 48" with 4 lights, and its super duper bright. I dont use it for my tank, i was but its to long, i built a custom hood thats getting better because im putting alot more stuff to it, like an exhaust system, and new reflectors for the LED's
Sorry for saying so much

[gasteriaphile]

That Sunleaves Pioneer II Jr. T5 is certainly slim alright and very attractive. But it only gives 48 watts. Wouldn't that be too dim for my plants? or anoles? The main reason I was attracted to the one I showed is because I can get 125w out of the one and 200w out of the other. Lastly, does this Sunleaves Pioneer II Jr. T5 have a means of hanging it above or must it rest on the tank's top?

[beckdg]

that t5 will more than likely put out a lot less light than the other (cfl setup). these things are the new technology everyone seems to want to improve on. plus every tube in it can provide a different spectrum... custom bulbs will be coming along nicely for this format in the very near future imo... hydroponics shops are starting to carry those bulbs more often now also, many of which have 2 bulb types covering your growing and budding spectrums in one convenient bulb.
3800 lumens should be more than enough, but idk what the other setup will offer also... also 3800 is very close to what i'm using on my planted tank... 36"l x18"d x 20"h... 50 gallons... it's a low tech hybrid kinda as i do fert and add very little co2... about enough for a 10 gallon or less.

in essence either of these options should do very well but i would go with brecks idea for his office for uniformity and fit... either way you go breck, 125 watts will be more than enough... that is an attractive hood and i'm sure it will look good w/your setup and should be more than sufficient for your purpose... you might want to install a timer though for a better light cycle.

do not set that fixture too close... give it at least 6 inches.

[Gold3nku5h]

yeah, you can hang the sunleaves one, i was just saying it will look better overall and give you about just as much light as that thing you have (i think, yours doesn't specify on the internet), but wont be so bulky. The measurements of the hood your looking at is 19.5 x 7 x 12 wide.

[froggsong]

Moving this to Equipment.