Boyu Tank and alternative lighting

Hi guys

We have a slight predicament.
One of our tanks is a Boyu BYG 86 (http://www.boyuaquarium.com/en_ArticleShow.asp?ArticleID=1639)
It comes with a PL tube, 24 watts fitted in the canopy.

Problem is, it is simply not enough for the tank, as it's a heavily planted, co2'd setup.

I thought we could replace it with a higher intensity PL, but it seems that 24 (or was it 26?) is the maximum.

Could I be outright forward, and ask for ideas and suggestions perhaps?
As it is a halfmoon shaped tank, any light cannot be fitted on top. Is there an LED alternative for the PL's that eurolux/osram etc has? Is LED even sufficient for it? Should we get an external lamp fitting and remove the canopy, or should we replace the fitting in the canopy. I am out of ideas.

Thanks in advance

 

@marlon: You can install LED light strips in the canopy like I did for my older Boyu tank:

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So the LED's will run in conjunction with your current setup.

 

mmm, @swaggasaurus I like that idea.
May I ask what kind of brightness/power one should look at to make it worthit? I calculated about 8watts of LED power to be around the mark we need.
I expected the PL tubes to be led-substituted too these days, but I think this is a good idea.

Also contemplating finding a dual tube fitting to replace it with.

I appreciate the response

 

If money isnt a problem remove the hood and get a kessil 150w amazon sun led unit

 

@marlon: Well each led is basically 0.5 watt so the configuration I had added 9 watts to my little 30 litre which was more than enough. You can get them in a configuration were they are packed more closely together so it would definitely be worth it. That little upgrade only set me back R 120 this was for everything in the picture you need for it:

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The best place to look for what you need would be AC/DC electronics: http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/acdc-dynamics/acdc-dynamics-catalogue/2010093001/#0

 

@Ryno: Problem is the lid contains the on and off switches for filter and lights and the back part contains the filter part.

 

@Swagasaurus: Think that's the way we will go. May I ask where you sourced these?
I see they have them au Eurolux, but the problem is they refer to "warm white" and "cool white" instead of proper temperature units. :/
Thanks for the little inspiration there :adore:

 

Sorry to bum in again, but could you have a look at this please
http://www.led-lights.co.za/lumi-shop/waterproof-flexible-strip-light/

Would it be correct to assume the "elite white" option is the best one? The temp is listed as 5500-6500 at 300lm. Sounds fair enough, but is that good for the planted tank?

 

@marlon: You can buy them at most light shops these days, Builders warehouse sells them pre-made you just need to buy the power supply. I bought mine at a China Mall here in Centurion. Most leds these days are between 25–120 Luminous flux (lumens) So just go for Cool White. Also when buying make sure that they are water proof strips.

Also you get the rigid strip lights that can flex or bend and then you get those that can bend and flex, you need to decide which would work better for you.

 

@marlon: Anything below 5000 is no good for plants ideally you want it to be in the 6500 range. The aquarium 20K they have on their list would do the job.

 

Do you remember which shop you got it from? I need to get some for my "night light" so that the fish don't get a shock when the main lights go off.
The Builders one's are bloody expensive!



Sent from my Lumia 920 using Tapatalk

 

if it helps, we went searching for them yesterday. Osram has the right stuff, in the right ranges and kelvins, and eurolux comes closes. It seems most of the "lighting" shops stock it, but you can get the best prices from eurolux directly.

 

@Williamh: The shop is in Oriental China Mall next to old Johannesburg road, unfortunately the shop does not have a name but you will know it when you see it they also sell solar panels and other led equipment.

 

Hi guys,@Swagasaurus -it isn't quite right that anything below 5000k is no good for plants. While we here in RSA seem to prefer 6500k (mixed with 10000k) lights, overseas a lot of aquarists use lower Kelvin rated lights (around 4000k). Just check out @DoubleDutch's tank, he stated he uses only 4000k on his tank/tanks.I would not use the LED strip labelled 'Aquarium 20k', that one is ok for a marine tank but isn't going to help in a planted tank. Choose cool or warm white.

 

@JCL: Thanks for the input, but I would like to point out a few things. Firstly the lower the kelvin rating of a light the warmer the colours. Anything in the 5000-10,000K range will work fine for most aquatic plants. 2700k-4000k is late afternoon colour light, a few hours before sundown. 5000K - 10,000K is Noon colour light on a blue sky cloudless day at the equator. Most of our aquarium plant come from the equatorial areas, hence most people use the higher kelvin rated lights. So, if you were a aquatic plant submerged under a foot of water what type of light do you think you might prefer? So the optimum would be 6,700K as it offers the most realistic lighting for your fish, and the red wavelengths for plants to photosynthesize properly.


Plants use both the red and blue spectrum. Both are important for a healthy tank especially if you have plants that are red-ish in color. And when the kelvin rating drops so do the colours and they go into the yellow spectrum which plants do not use for photosynthesis, lumens/lux is also an important factor.


Here is a very nice little explanation of how it works, lots of reading but very informative: Lighting Spectrum and Photosythesis - Lighting - Aquatic Plant Central

 

@Swagasaurus -thanks for the link. You say 'a lot of reading', ...well I went through all this and more a few months ago when I had a look at lighting. As an engineer I thoroughly enjoyed Newt's write-up.
However it is interresting that in his write-up he also mentions the Europeans using lower Kelvin ratings (below 5000k) for their lighting. And nowhere does he encourage 20k lights to be used.
He (Newt) talks favourably about the Sylvania Grolux (8000k), a tube I use quite a bit (amongst others).
@DoubleDutch, who has great plant growth with his 4000k feels that the Grolux was one of the worst (or the worst) in his experiences, ...so go and figure that out.
It all goes to show that there isn't one solution only, ....as they say, many roads lead to Rome.

But let's not hijack this thread, @marlon wanted to improve his lighting on his Boyu tank and adding LEDs is one solution. As alternative to strip lighting, he could install individual LEDs (choosing red and blue ones) and a separate driver.
I recently got myself a small 35l Buyo (1 CFL) and a 128l Buyo (2CFL) and will do exactly that.
There is also a thread on here showing how a fellow user changed the lighting of his Boyu TL450- from CFL to LED and another thread by @sub-lime showing the LED design and built for a big tank (worth looking into as well).

There are many options ....

 

Grolux is used a lot overhere in the past and often sold as plantgrowth-bulb. I was reffering to a test between about ten bulbs. IThe 3000k and 4000k had the best plantgrowth-index (3-band bulbs !!) and Grolux the lowest.

 

Hi Chaps, I bought the DARO Flo Glo 20W 600mm Aquarium Fluorescent tube for my Aquarium as the salesman at the LFS said this was the best he had that will help the plants to grow and enhance the fish colours. I am going to import LED Stars to make up my own lighting. Sawgasaurus thank you for that link to Newt's explanation of the Lighting Spectrum and Photosynthesis. That link helps one understand the lighting process and what lighting is required for plant growth. So now I know what I will require to put into my lighting bar for my aquarium.

 

@Andrewv: Pleasure

 

Thanks @Swagasaurus, only saw your post today. Will go and have a look and see what I can get.