Lights for a 150 gallon

Aknickolai

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Jan 11, 2008
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I'm finally done with a 3 year long remodel on my home and can set up a gorgeous 150 gallon Oceanic tank that has been collecting dust in my garage! I'd like to set up this tank similar to a 75 gallon I had several years ago: medium light levels, CO2 injection and water column fertilization only (it's too much $$$ to get fancy substrates to Alaska). Plants I'd like to grow again are blyxia japonica, red tiger lotus, and red ludwigias.

I've spent a lot of time reading posts on this forum, trying to get caught up and have made some sense of PAR replacing the WPG rules I am familiar with. I've had really good luck with AH Supply kits in the past and would like to use their 54watt 48" T5HO kits to build my own light. The light will be ~15-20 inches off the top of the tank, so ~40 inches from the substrate on average. Based on Hoppy's chart that is floating around out there, it seems like I need 6 bulbs. They are wired in pairs of two, so that should give me pretty good control over the light should I need to reduce it. The tank is 60inches long, but I think I will be fine with 48" a foot or so off the tank. Does this sound about right or am I missing anything ;-) Thanks in advance for any input you all might have!
 

dutchy

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Jul 6, 2009
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You might find that 4 bulbs with good reflectors are already enough to get a reasonable PAR. Of course you can always buy a fixture with more bulbs and switch them off as needed.

Hoopy's chart is useful, but no more as a guidline. I've measured up to 20% variance in different brand bulbs.