Elevated?

[Reggae Fish]

I am looking at 2 different 48" fixtures. One is a "sit on" which goes directly on top and the other has "legs" and is elevated?

I have a freshwater tank (55gallons)

Can I use either of these with the same amount of effectiveness? Can I use the one with legs and have it still work well or is it only for saltwater? I can choose from 130 watts, 220w, or 260w. Is there advantages from either of them?

Also, regarding the lighting, I like the crisp white light.
Not yellow or blue. What is the best to use? 50/50, 12,000k, etc...?

 

[supertech3]

10,000k would be more white than the 12,000k and less yellow than say a 7,500k. I would use the lamp with the legs to have it a little further off the water.

 

[Reggae Fish]

thanks. what wattage would you recommend? I might decide to upgrade tank in the future

 

[WaterKeeper]

I don't know if I should help a guppykeeper but what the heck.

Since this is a FW tank use the lower wattage, 130 watts should be plenty. High light levels on a FW tank usually result in heavy algae growth. You want lighting in the 6000-10,000 K range for the white light. Mixing lamps in that Kelvin range should give you a crisp white look. The Lighting Thread should give you more info; especially when you make a move to heavy water.

 

[woofyitalian]

You're gonna get some SERIOUS algae. I did that and ended up changing over to SW (my first tank.) Good luck though...

 

[WaterKeeper]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6724534#post6724534 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by woofyitalian
You're gonna get some SERIOUS algae. I did that and ended up changing over to SW (my first tank.) Good luck though...

Ahhh, but the lesson you learned in water quality management made the transition to SW smoother I bet.

 

[piranhaking]

i know this is a reef forum, but a little help is in order anyway. Keeping live plants in the tank would help greatly with keeping algae down. However, im not really sure how FW plants would do with the higher kelvin bulbs. "plant" bulbs are usually more in the range of 6,500 kelvin and arent as white as you would like. mine are more of a pink shade. There is a decient plant forum at www.piranha-fury.com.