Lighting for planted tank

[Generals]

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hi guys, im trying to setup a 36"x18"x20" planted tank...
Im not so sure what type of lighting is preferable.....
what are your views between
Metal Halide, t5, energysavers and ordinary fluorescents?

would metal halide be too costly when it comes to electricity bills?
What about the heat it produces? would it affect the system negatively?

[Soggy2]

3 ft tanks are not too easy to light using regular fluorescents because the usual daylight bulbs here are sold in 2 ft or 4 ft lengths.

Metal halides are too expensive initially but are the most efficient lighting compared to anything locally available. An MH bulb can ideally light a 2 square foot surface. I think one fixture costs an average of around 3.5k (not sure but this was the price i was eyeing before. A 70 watt phillips double ended type MH fixture + daylight bulb). They're commonly available in 70, 150, 250 and 400 watts. The MH ballast and other entrails get really hot and produces a humming noise but it can be mounted away from the actual bulb. You also get that really cool rippling effect with MH.

T5s are good but the fixtures available right now are mostly disposable. I.e., you cannot find ballasts sold separately. If the fixture fizzles, you'd need to replace the entire fixture. Please correct me if there are T5 ballasts sold separately but i haven't found them anywhere.
But the good thing is that you can find T5 lengths that will closely match the length of your tank. You can even buy them with built in parabolic reflectors.

Energy saving CFLs are a lot better intensity-wise compared to regular fluorescents. Youll just need a lot of them to cover the same area compared to regular fluorescents.

Maam svmx, i believe, uses CFLs. The bigger planted tanks at pipers uses mostly CFLs + MH.
I use 4 x 4 foot fluorescents and am not too happy with them. hehehe.
markykoi uses PL 55 watts and his tank is awesome. But i think those are sold at only one or two store in the whole island of cebu. hehehe. Theyre plentiful in manila though.

[Generals]

tnx soggy2,

whats a PL by the way?

what do you think about Firefly brand metal halide?

i heard that firefly bulbs are more of yellowish white while philips are bluish white... which would have a better effect for planted tanks?

[Generals]

tnx soggy2,

whats a PL by the way?

what do you think about Firefly brand metal halide?

i heard that firefly bulbs are more of yellowish white while philips are bluish white... which would have a better effect for planted tanks?

[kenny_tiu7]

tnx soggy2,

whats a PL by the way?

what do you think about Firefly brand metal halide?

i heard that firefly bulbs are more of yellowish white while philips are bluish white... which would have a better effect for planted tanks?

PL=Pin Lights(i guess)

[svmx123]

Yup! I use CFL murag 3 feet pu ni akong tank. High lighted akong setup so I I use 5 23 watts na CFL, 6 unta toh but mo init na maayo ako tank kay wala pa ko fan karun hehehehehe. If you going to use CFL according to Papillon (a co-hobbist sa manila) use the cil tpe nga CFL kay mas hayag siya kay sa U-type lang. Im using U type as of the moment but will shift to coil type kung ma pondir na ni akong napalit hehehehehe

[Generals]

@svmx,
oh ok... so whats your tank temp so far with 5x23W cfl (u-types)?

@ken
Pin lights d i na? karon pako da.....

@soggy
for my tank size will one metal halide 150w suffice? it would be around 3wpg but im also concerned with the area that it covers. will it cover the whole area of the tank or not?

[Soggy2]

@soggy
for my tank size will one metal halide 150w suffice? it would be around 3wpg but im also concerned with the area that it covers. will it cover the whole area of the tank or not?

Hmm. I read it optimally lights up a 2 foot square so you'd have 6 inches on both ends OR raise it higher to cover the entire length and sacrifice a bit of the intensity. MH is usually "prescribed" for deep tanks of around 2 feet or more.

tnx soggy2,

whats a PL by the way?

what do you think about Firefly brand metal halide?

i heard that firefly bulbs are more of yellowish white while philips are bluish white... which would have a better effect for planted tanks?

pmip, has first hand experience with firefly bulbs, he should be able to give inputs.
@pmip, pasok! hehehehe.

I think theres only one color temp for the firefly bulbs available here. I didnt ask about the other color temps for the philips bulb since daylight is the preferred color temp.

[swordfishh]

hi guys, im trying to setup a 36"x18"x20" planted tank...
Im not so sure what type of lighting is preferable.....
what are your views between
Metal Halide, t5, energysavers and ordinary fluorescents?

would metal halide be too costly when it comes to electricity bills?
What about the heat it produces? would it affect the system negatively?

try daw bro. ug gamit anang coral life 10,000K kay sa ako lang experience buhi man au akong mga tanom... ako aquarium kay 48"X 14" X 12" ako gigamit kay 36Watts na coral life. yeah, sakto jud ka bro. taas au wattage ang metal halide 150w man to amo gigamit sa amo marine... mas prefferable jud ang coral life f planted lang imo set up then mas cheaper pa jud kaysa metal halide. Bow...

[svmx123]

@general
My tank temp is around 31 degrees minimum to 33 degrees maximum (during hot weather), wala pa man gud fan ako hood kay medyo na busy ko sa work haven't got much time to buy.