Hey everyone,
I am going to be piecing together all the equipment I need to set up my 180 gallon as the planted aquarium on my dreams. I am leaning towards LED lights so I can use the hood that I already have for this aquarium, but I have not settled on that yet. I have looked a several different types of LEDs, I know BML works well, I am currently running one BML light on my 75 gallon after one of my T5HO fixtures died.
These are the LED options I am looking at:
BML:
One 5000k XB series
One 10,000k XB series
One 6,500k XB series
One 6,300k Color control series
One of the reasons I am leading toward BML over other fixtures is I have had good results with the one I am using on my 75 gallon and the fact that I can hook them up to the Apex led controller and have them automatically dim and brighten to simulate the natural movement and spectrum of the sun's daily cycle. I probably only really need three lamps but I thinking four will give me a much better spread of light across the bottom of the aquarium, the fixture will be resting inside my hood about 2 inches from the surface of the water.
EVO Quad:
I have never used these, but have read things from a few people that have seemed to get good results from them, I was thinking of using A total of six 24 inch fixtures. The fixture found here:
http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Aquar...t-p/56574p.htm
I am just wondering if these would be worth in investment, it would be much less to get these lights, totaling a little under $700 as to there I am looking at around $2,000 for the BML lighting. One of my main concerns is there are not many spectrum to choose from, it looks as it is 6,500k or nothing with this lamp, and they don't seem to be dim-able which is another downside for me.
Beamworks:
I have never used these lights either and haven't seen anyone else that has as well, but stumbled on them when I was looking at the EVO Quad lights. This is by far the cheapest option it seems, I would be able to get six fixtures for around $210, the fixture I am referring here is located here:
http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Aquar...h-p/56324p.htm.
Once again it seems like you can only get these lights in on spectrum and they also appear to be non-dim-able.
The reason I am thinking about getting six 24" LEDs in the cheaper brands is because I will be able to control them better with on and off timers since they are either fully on or fully off. As to where I can control the Build My Led fixtures with the Apex controller. I want to be able to use whatever lighting I decide to go with inside the hood because it give the aquarium a really nice finished look, and since it big and in the living room it is more pleasing on the eye to keep it looking nice and finished. I do have plans of getting an Apex controller for the aquarium no matter what lights I decide to go with because with my new job I will be traveling a lot and like the control I can have with the Apex system.
Here is a picture of the aquarium I am going to be working on, it is a convert from a saltwater system so it currently has reef lighting, they are DIY lights and I tried to fix them they best I could when I got the aquarium but a lot of them have burned out and I am down to one bar of lights that are still functional.
I am going to be piecing together all the equipment I need to set up my 180 gallon as the planted aquarium on my dreams. I am leaning towards LED lights so I can use the hood that I already have for this aquarium, but I have not settled on that yet. I have looked a several different types of LEDs, I know BML works well, I am currently running one BML light on my 75 gallon after one of my T5HO fixtures died.
These are the LED options I am looking at:
BML:
One 5000k XB series
One 10,000k XB series
One 6,500k XB series
One 6,300k Color control series
One of the reasons I am leading toward BML over other fixtures is I have had good results with the one I am using on my 75 gallon and the fact that I can hook them up to the Apex led controller and have them automatically dim and brighten to simulate the natural movement and spectrum of the sun's daily cycle. I probably only really need three lamps but I thinking four will give me a much better spread of light across the bottom of the aquarium, the fixture will be resting inside my hood about 2 inches from the surface of the water.
EVO Quad:
I have never used these, but have read things from a few people that have seemed to get good results from them, I was thinking of using A total of six 24 inch fixtures. The fixture found here:
http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Aquar...t-p/56574p.htm
I am just wondering if these would be worth in investment, it would be much less to get these lights, totaling a little under $700 as to there I am looking at around $2,000 for the BML lighting. One of my main concerns is there are not many spectrum to choose from, it looks as it is 6,500k or nothing with this lamp, and they don't seem to be dim-able which is another downside for me.
Beamworks:
I have never used these lights either and haven't seen anyone else that has as well, but stumbled on them when I was looking at the EVO Quad lights. This is by far the cheapest option it seems, I would be able to get six fixtures for around $210, the fixture I am referring here is located here:
http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Aquar...h-p/56324p.htm.
Once again it seems like you can only get these lights in on spectrum and they also appear to be non-dim-able.
The reason I am thinking about getting six 24" LEDs in the cheaper brands is because I will be able to control them better with on and off timers since they are either fully on or fully off. As to where I can control the Build My Led fixtures with the Apex controller. I want to be able to use whatever lighting I decide to go with inside the hood because it give the aquarium a really nice finished look, and since it big and in the living room it is more pleasing on the eye to keep it looking nice and finished. I do have plans of getting an Apex controller for the aquarium no matter what lights I decide to go with because with my new job I will be traveling a lot and like the control I can have with the Apex system.
Here is a picture of the aquarium I am going to be working on, it is a convert from a saltwater system so it currently has reef lighting, they are DIY lights and I tried to fix them they best I could when I got the aquarium but a lot of them have burned out and I am down to one bar of lights that are still functional.
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