HO - lighting for an 80 gallon?

[Ross]

hey so reading around on here ive decided to buy the hagen GRO t5 light fixtures for my 80 gallon aquarium, however im wondering if just one double lighting unit will do it for me if the aquarium is planted? or will i need to buy more? or is there another brand i should consider (not coralife lol)?

[African_Fever]

How tall is the tank, and what sort of plants are you looking to do? I've got a GRO T5 fixture and I love it; as soon as the other two fixtures on my 120 go I'll be replacing them with another T5 as well. I'm at a little under 2 wpg and have no trouble growing vals in that tank, so it just depends on what sort of plants you're looking to do.

[Ph11p3540]

I have a 65 gal tank thats only 22" deep. Three Coral Life 48" dual T5 luminares are all I need for most plants. The alumanium reflectors in these slim fixtures make these lights nearly blinding to look at. I am sure the recfectors make the lights deliver more wattage to the water then stated on the package.

[jvision]

With HO lighting, you don't want to go much over the 2W per gallon rule; otherwise, you usually have to either trim your plants multiple times per week, or fight algae.

I like to make sure that the limiting factor in my tanks is light - not CO2 or any other nutrient. That makes it a lot easier to deal with (avoid) algae problems.

[jvision]

With HO lighting, you don't want to go much over the 2W per gallon rule; otherwise, you usually have to either trim your plants multiple times per week, or fight algae.

I like to make sure that the limiting factor in my tanks is light - not CO2 or any other nutrient. That makes it a lot easier to deal with (avoid) algae problems.