Wanted: Sup ppl im new here and am hopelessly addicted to fish...

[mydawg8mystash]

i need lights 2-36" or 1-72"

[eklikewhoa]

Probably get a little more specific to help those that are offering.

[mydawg8mystash]

my bad i just need some lights cheap ones i mean any kind will work for now its just for now untill i get enough to buy some good ones i just want to get my 125 g going and be able to see its freshwater it has a canopy i am still working on it i will post pixs n a lil bit

[eklikewhoa]

You could pull off some shop lights from HomeDepot or Lowes, they have some fairly priced T5 there.

[mydawg8mystash]

see i thought about i didnt know if regular lights would mess with the fish or not ow whats the difference in lights i really have not got that far i mean i dont understand the difference between lets say a fluorescent and t5 i know a certin spectrum but y

[eklikewhoa]

Shop lighting is fluorescent, the T# is the bulb diameter/type T12 T8 T6 T5, T5 is the thinner diameter so there is more light allowed to be reflected back into the tank if coupled with a good reflector.

The spectrum or K rating also plays a role but more so to the human eye. Depending on personal preference or what you're keeping something along the lines of 5000k-10000k think most of those come with like 4800-5500k

[eklikewhoa]

If you wanna get fancy or use for a planted tank on a budget you can find your closest hydroponics shop and they offer some really nice T5 with workable reflectors in the spectrum/kelvin appropriate to grow plants, and they are linkable so you could line the whole inside of that canopy and re-create the SUN up in there!

Or for a little bit larger budget I could piece together links to build a redonkalous Metal Halide set-up that will give you the shimmer like looking through the ocean and enough lighting to have part of the coral reef in your tank!

[mydawg8mystash]

lol dayum u wanna light my chit up... what about leds at epo i can get a huge roll for like 50 bucks of weatherproof leds of any color even with a thing so u can dial in ur colors or just one color

[eklikewhoa]

Yeah that works too but idunno if the rolled LEDs will have enough power to shine deep into the 125 height. It'll give you the shimmer but a weak one.

There are some good LEDs at EPO but for the cost you could get more of a different type of lighting.

[mydawg8mystash]

yeaaa true i was not impressed by there "super bright white" leds i was expecting to b like daaaaammmm but got a waaaa waaaa waaaaaaaaaa so didnt get them the blue were pretty bright.... .... hummmm im on a tight budget real tight untill the end of next month then i can do whatever i would like to make it pretty bright u know at least look good i wish i could do plants but they keep ripping them up so i gave up