6 Foot Tropical Tank, what kind of lighting?

[FuckYouChrisAndThatHorse]

I've always kept tropical fish, but haven't set up a tank in a few years (and even then it was with old equipment), so I'm assuming I'm way out of date with current set ups.

So, 253L tank (6'Wx12"Lx18"H), I'm going to get the fluval 306 external filter.

What lighting would be best? This is probably where I'm most ignorant.

And for such a long tank, what kind of heater should I be using?

I don't want to spend a fortune, but I'd rather spend a bit more now and save in the long run, so the more energy-saving the better :)

And that's before I get on to the subject of which fish? I'm a big fan of large shoals of small fish (love zebra danios, cardinal tetras, that sort of think).

Any suggestions on stock also very welcome.

Help!

I realise now that my title asks one question, when I'm really asking lots! Sorry.

Bump :)

Depends how much you want to spend and what you want to grow. Would you consider yourself to be a plant geek, or potential plant geek? If you want energy saving then have a look at some LED systems. They're getting more popular so coming down in price a bit. I don't know much about them tbh, all my lighting equipment is knocking on a bit...

Heating wise, you could go for two separate heaters, one at each end of the tank to spread things out a bit, so probably a couple of 250 watts. Or you can get inline heaters that attach to your filter so that water is heated on its way back into the tank.

I'm a big fan of large shoals of small fish too! You could go for a biotope set up and pick community fish from one part of the world (for example Amazon or SE Asia). You can be as geeky about that as you want. Or you can just choose some peaceful fish that you like the look of, or pick a nice centrepiece fish and work around that. What's your water like?

And what's your field like now that the horses have gone?

Eau :o the field is lovely. It now has a picnic table in the middle of it and is improving by the day. Thanks for asking.

Plants? I would like to be able to grow a few easy types, but I'm not green fingered enough to manage anything interesting.

It would be nice to invest in a decent lighting system. I wish we had a decent fish shop around here where I could go and pick their brains.

We have soft water in these parts.

I think I'll probably go with basic heaters (I was thinking one each end, so that's nice and simple. I may have a couple lying around that will do) and splash out on lighting.

Unfortunately the dcs have already got their hands on some lovely novelty ornaments, thanks to my generous parents so there's no way this is going to be an elegant set up!

Ah yes, there are some very eye-catching ornaments around I've set up a tank in my DDs' room and told them they can have whatever they like. I can't wait. My downstairs tank is very tasteful.

Soft water, you lucky bugger. You'll have loads to choose from. S America, SE Asia and quite a few African fish like soft water. You'll need to test the pH as well.

If you're not too fussed about plants then I'd go for minimal lighting. There are plenty of tough plants that don't mind low/medium lighting levels. That way you can keep the costs down a bit as well. The usual guide for the old SSL lights (the tube ones) was 1-2 watts per gallon (roughly)- from looking at LED strips, they seem to be about the same wattage per size if that makes sense. If the lighting level is too low then the only thing that will grow is algae.

How much were you planning to spend? LED systems are still a lot more but your leccy bill will be lower and you won't have to worry about overheating on hot days.

Hmm, for a reliable lighting system that lit the fish nicely a couple of hundred? But I'm so out of touch I don't know if that counts as much or not.

Yeah, you'd be looking at that for LEDs. Maybe more. Fluorescent tube set ups are really cheap now, you could probably get a whole kit off Freecycle. Looks like LED replacements are about the same as tubes so there wouldn't be much to spend after the initial set up.

Looking at the fluval (which isn't quite long enough) LED light, they're about £300.

I'm umming and ahhing about just sticking in some fluorescent lights instead :o

But the fish would be prettier!

I think with that length of tank you might be looking at 2 separate units anyway, one for each end of the tank. I don't know what the lid is like but a lot of bigger tanks have two hatches, two lots of brackets etc because it's not practical having a massive long fluorescent tube.

Right, I have chickened out of buying the LED lights for now. I'm going to set it up with two lengths of fluorescent lights and then if it gets to the point of looking good and I have the cash, I shall splash out.

My rationale has gone thusly, "£300 is an awful lot of lovely fish!"

The tank itself is second hand, and I really hope it's watertight.

So first jobs are clean it, re-seal it (just in case!) and hope to high heaven that the floor stays dry!

If it all comes together it will be beautiful.

Thanks for the help Eau.

When it comes to fish buying I tend to choose the quirky ones when possible. It's very tempting to go for Oscar's or something that would get really big, but they won't shoal! And I love a good shoal.

Fill it up outside first just to make sure. If it does need re-sealing then it's pretty easy to do.

Quirky fish? You need hatchetfish.

They are brilliant! Just the sort of thing to mesmerise the dcs.