6ft T5 lighting

[fiftycal]

I am getting a 6ft flat hood fish tank, and I am after a 6ft T5 lighting system that will fit under the hood, since it has better penetration than T8.

I will not be planting it too heavily, just some amazon swords, and some other things, but I would still like decent lighting to give me the ability to grow more things. Of course I would like to keep cost as low as reasonably possible.

There is a 6ft T5 (8x 3ft) setup on ebay, but I have heard poor things about the quality of lights from this seller, and that the flat reflector is quite inefficient.

I was thinking of using 2 Aquaforce 3 foot twin lights, since they are only 179 each. Would these fit under a 6 foot hood? The unit is 925mm long. Would I have to stagger them?

Would 2 staggered 4foots be better, or would it be too hard to fit them?


Cheers

[revkev]

Read the post on New 3ft tank - Lighting recommendations please
ie you get what you pay for.

[ILLUSN]

Hi,
The aquaforce lights are VERY GOOD and deliver A LOT of light with the reflectors, if your hood is slightly longer then 6ft you should be ok with 2 if not and you don't want to grow high light plants what about using the 5ft model? only 1 power point instead of 2 and 160w (2x80) instead of 156w(4x39w tubes) also cheaper 2x39w t5 $175 (x2 $250) 2x80w t5 $245 would you really notice 15cm of slightly darker space at each end of your tank?

[fiftycal]

I have read the other thread, and yes you get what you pay for but it is only very noticeable with those super cheap ebay lights. Aquaforce lights have gotten a good rap on these boards yet are still ALOT cheaper than most.

You have a point, 15cm isnt really much and since the lights are quite powerful it shouldnt really be very noticeable. If I decide to grow high light plants later, I could stagger another 5 foot in there anyway.

[Proteus]

Aquaforce by Reef Octopus are not much different to the el-cheapo lights. The only positive reviews I have read on Aquaforce are to do with there reflector panels.