Lighting and filtration for a 4ft tank

Discussion in 'General Equipment discussion' started by Skeltonsc, Jul 26, 2020.

  1. Skeltonsc

    Skeltonsc

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    Howzit guys so...

    From February I got back into the hobby as my 6 year old wanted a fish tank for his birthday.

    What started with a single 40 litre tank with a 3 Convicts has now grown to 6 tanks with a variety of fish.

    Now my latest addition is a lekker 4ft custom tank with a built in sump.

    I'm looking for lighting for the 4 ft tank that will not break the bank, but that will also grow low tech plants.

    I'm looking at fitting around 3 x 3ft Led globes as these dont need a ballast however my internet searches are finding 3ft t8 or t5 900mm globes as scarce as hens teeth.

    So now I'm thinking of getting 4ft led globes and cutting down the unused pins on one end. this will allow the globe to hopefully just fit with around 2 mm to spare I will solder the wires onto the pins and insulate with hot glue.

    also the tank has a glass lid there is also only around 3 inches of vertical space to actually fit the globes.

    I will also purchase some glass off-cuts to place over the bracing at the ends to stop water splashing and stop me from dunking the globes by accident.

    also having some issues with the filter, its a built in sump on the right so need to find 20ppi foam as the Filter floss is allowing my Kulhi Loaches to find their way into the filter. they cannot get past the finer foam, but dont want them in there.

    I think I have found some sheets from emwsa but can this be glued as I need a piece that measures 50cm high but 15cm wide by 13cm long.
     
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  3. rsa

    rsa

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    Those 4ft led globes work well ,i used to run them about 3 years ago . For a 4ft i would fit a minimum of 4 if space allows ....
     
    Skeltonsc likes this.
  4. OP
    Skeltonsc

    Skeltonsc

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    now I need to figure out if I need 2 or 3 of them, think I will start with 2 and see how much light I get, its only a low tech tank with a bit of Jungle Val, some Subwassertang, a Java fern, and a very small anubias.
     
  5. TheGrissom

    TheGrissom

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    You will need hardly any light to grow those plants. The vallis is a bit hit and miss (only my opinion - in some tanks it takes over, others (like me) it just wont grow no matter what)) but the other 3 species mentioned are all extremely undemanding.
     
    A new day likes this.

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