Hi, would this be suitable for lighting for fresh water http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...xture4x54watt48

depends on how big/small the tank is.Too small and it'd deffinatly be overkill.lol.

For a 55 gallon?

it is good lighting for a 55gal but the bulbs which come with it are actinic or 10 000k day lamps they are designed for saltwater aquariums. This is overkill on a 55gal unless it will be heavily planted. generally for a goldie tank the lighting should be 6500k or if it is planted anything from 5000-6500k

Does anything on that site look good as far as lights go?

I did not have a look at any other lights but it depends are you keeping alot of high light plants or a lot of plants? Do you wish for a lot of green algae or green water, or is is just a goldfish only tank possibly with a couple of low light plants. These are all factors to decide when buying a lighting system

I wanted to keep 10 plants preferably ones that the goldies don't wat to eat. I have Amazon swords, anubius, and I bought a banana plant, but they distroyed that one.
All I know is that what I have right now isn't enough light. I think there are 2 bulbs total 22 watts each so thats 44 watts in all.

does it really matter?

i picked up a "saltwater" lighting system (10000K + actinic) because I like the blue look. I have not yet installed it though.....should i return it for the 6500K version? will the saltwater system harm my fish?

I prefer the 10,000K full spectrum bulbs, so I wouldn't return anything. But you can buy new bulbs to replace those actinic bulbs. I did for mine. The actinic bulbs are for live coral and live rock. As far as will it hurt anything? Of course not.

You want to shoot for 1-3 Watts per gallon as far as lighting goes. I didn't look to see what your wattage adds up to, but you can even go over that - but you do have to look out for your tank overheating with over 3 watts.

Ok, well I decided to go with this http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...0000kfreshwater
it's better than what I have. It still has the 10,000k bulbs you speak of. I think a 55 gallon really holds about 50 gallons so I am somewhere around 2 watts
per gallon.
I think I can buy the mounting feet for it on a different site.

oh ok good find. 10 000kelvin is used for saltwater aquariums it is okay for freshwater but is actually to much if you think about in the ocean the sun is constantly on the water where as freshwater creeks, river, lakes etc usually have alot more shade. 10 000k by all means is okay for freshwater but if you are trying to grow plants you won't really end up growing anything and it does not help improve colours on freshwater fish as i said above it is more designed for saltwater.

Actinic lighting has no use on a freshwater aquarium unless you are prepared to use the bulb as a long paperweight it is as useless as a chocolate kettle on a freshwater set up. It is high intensity lighting designed specifically for coral it is in the blue spectrum as in the ocean blue is the only colour on the spectrum scale which is able to penetrate the water that is also why the ocean is blue.

would this light setup reduce the amount of brown/black algae versus a typical 6500K light?

i am really debating returning the fixture for the 6500K model......

Would I not be able to change the bulbs out on this fixture to any kind of t5 buld up to 54 watts each? Like the kind that would be good for plants and fish color?

10 000k is fine you can keep it if you wish otherwise later on you can switch to a t5 bulb. High lighting will reduce brown algae as it thrives in low light situations. For example is you have a 10gal tank with 10watts of light you will have brown algae it depends on the size of your tank vs your wattage. The more your wattage the less chance you will have brown algae but you will end up with nice green algae

thanks! i wouldnt mind some green algae!

I've had a problem with brown algae in my 55g, ever since the nitrates have gone wild!

But then, hubby and I had a brainstorm...we moved over our lighting system from the 125g, since it's down for the time being, to the 55g. It has a combined wattage of 4 x 65w. At first, I thought it would be too bright, so I only turned on 2 of the bulbs.

Brown algae ensued, even worse!!

So, we decided to experiment, and have been running the system full force for a couple of weeks now.

Guess what???

GREEN ALGAE is taking over!


Yeah baby!!! Do you know how long I've been waiting for green algae?

Moral of the story - strong full spectrum lighting rocks!

Ok, I thought with lights the most important thing was watts per gallon. I am really confused as what the difference is between 10000k and 6500k? Wouldn't the higher number be brighter? And t5 t8 t12 what does this all mean?
Dan, what kind of lights do you have on your tanks?

6500k is the degree of lighting think of it as a thermometer for lights 10 000k is full spectrum lighting so it has all the colours in the colour spectrum in it. Where as 6500k (k = kelvin) bulbs generally are stronger in the blue and red spectrum accenting a fish's colour better.

I did some googling and found 10 000k bulbs can be used in planted aquariums if there are other lighting with it for example 6500k. Full spectrum lighting is fine for a fish only tank and you can end up growing plants with it by itself as well they will just not grow as quickly as if you had 6500k bulbs which is usually the kelvin rating for t5 bulbs. From what i found googling think as a bulb that is 10 000k is like an all round bulb it can be used on fresh and saltwater.

t5 bulbs are thinner than t8 yet are at the higher end of the lighting scale think of it as big things come in smaller packages.

seeing that i am not that great at defining the actual bulbs i know what they are just not sure how to word it check this site out it tells you about t8 and t12 bulbs
http://www.servicelighting.com/library/lig...t8_lighting.cfm

The lighting i use on my tanks lets see, the hoods are the standard juwel hoods but my next door neighbour modified them to take higher out put bulb (he is an electrician) the bulbs are 6500k and i have total of 125watts on a 60gal tank this is enough lighting to support most plants. I also have a heat bulb running which is a yellowish orange colour and provides a specific heat for certain plants i am not sure whether i want to keep it though as it makes a weird yellowish colour. On my 30gal planted tank i have 2 25 watt bulbs bulbs the plants don't seem to be growing in there need to get my butt into gear and see why they are not growing.

I hope that makes sense if you want more info you can google them you can find better definitions on the web.

So basically any one of these fixture will be ok , just change out the bulbs to them to something that is 6500k?

Yes the actual fixture will support both bulbs you do not have to change the bulbs to something such as 6500k but you have the choice too further on. If it was me i would keep the 10 000k bulbs as by the description of the plants that are going into this tank they are very hardy and will grow in most lighting set ups. Plus it would cost more money to buy the bulbs

My lights arrived today. All I can say is WOW.........what a difference! It comes with one 54 watt slimpaq frshwater T5HO Lamp, and one 54 watt Slimpaq 10,000k T5HO lamp.

so you like them that is good

I don't really know how will work for the plants but they are much brighter and look a heck of alot better than what I had.

lol that is good 108watts is considered moderately high lighting on a 55gal so the plants will grow fairly well you may want some ferts though for added nutrients seachem flourish is a good brand and if used in tandem with flourish excel your plants will be thriving

GREAT! More stuff to put in the tank, LOL. Right now all i put in is Prime and Kent Goldfish essential, and I hav some crushed coral in my filters.