Lighting for Malawi Tank

Hi all

I tried the new member section for some reason not working for me

This is a great forum, finally i get some help from from the locals - lol

I have 4ft curently set up with Malawi fish in it, I have just 1 light in it, it the fish colour light sort of UV, I wana add more lights maybe another 2 will this be fine or am i adding tomany lights

And i have another question can i use a normmal house florecent holder with 2 daylight tubes, the reason i am asking this is that the fish tank lights are very expensive +- R120 each and the normal lights are +-R30 each

Please can you guys help

 

The lighting guru's will respond soon enough... I tried using normal Osram globes and found that the water appeared orange/dirty. I haven't been able to source any daylights, but I believe that is the way to go.

I would assume that with Malawis you haven't got a planted tank, so anything that makes the fish look good, and the water clear should suffice.

 

Thanks for response,

I dont have any plants, made my own kinda tube caves with PVC tubes,

 

I gather you using T8 lighting?

Yes you can use normal flourescent tubes.

 

On my full on malawi tanks i used to use aquastar and blue moon,created the perfect look that i wanted

 

I know nothing about lighting but i bought a Security light for 65 Rand from a lighting store. 500watt. 500watt halogen lamps for R12. my tank is 650mm deep but i have no problems. The 500watt lamp is a bit of an overkill in fact and makes a slight yellow light and gets very very hot(Think it would even heat the tank ). . so i bought an 24watt energy saver r7s lamp for about R80 i think. Its not as bright but its allot whiter and stays cold.

tank with the light

 

Any cooked fish after that 500W security lamp

Have seen those things get wet and explode

 

I'd be more concerned over (1) the cost of electricity and (2) the amount of algae that would bloom!

 

I'm not using the 500w lamp. only the 24watt fluorecent lamp. thats the one i used while taking the photo

 

Thanks for the respose people

I am using the normal fish tank tube, but want to add more light, wana know if it safe to use the normal house hold day light tubes

This is my tank with the x1 Fish colour tube

 

I cant see why not except for one thing -

You must ensure that the light spectrum does not peak in the 550 nm range which is exactly the correct wavelength that blue green algae need to grow (Reference: The Prof) hence you will facilitate algae blooms in your tank which I'm sure you want to avoid!

 

i curenty dont have algea, an dont want algea,

So if i get a normal house hold 3f holder with x2 Osram daylight tubes and still use the UV 1 i have, that make 3 lights it should be fine, all the lights are 30W each

Sorry for all the questions, but i need to know for sure that i am doing the right think

Will the normal house tube afect the growth and colour of my fish?

 

I like the caves but you need to add a lot more cause there is not enough places for babies to hide. As for lighting I'm using 1x Osram coolwhite, 1xSkywhite 880, 1x10000K. Try Lamphouse in Linbro Park 011 608 2565.
Try http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/ for lighting colours. I'm in the process of building a new cave structure with clays & mini crates that I found on a reef site. I'm also using a lot of the reef building techniques to redo my scaping. Also have a look at my tank http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=1759
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com

 

Your tank looks very nice, like the set up, Did you have your fish from small if yes how long does it take for them to grow that size, I want big malawi fish as well but afraid they gona fight,

I curenty do have babies, they about 1 month old that from the time the mother let go of them, they in a seperate tank for now

So you have no issues with algea with the normal house hold tubes

 

I got them from babies. Some of them are about 3years old. Don't buy big Malawis. Rather buy them small so they can get used with each other. Read up on malawis cause the aggression level is very high with malawis. Some malawis are like bull dogs.

 

I know, When i first started with them i had x40 in my tank anf you wont believe with in a month i lost 30, Some of them i could even the bodies. they were eaten up, at that stage i was stupid and never listened when i told you add rock or some sort of hiding places, anyways we all lear the hard way, now its much more better

 

Okay - I just bought a univiversal white osram tube 30W anyone using these