Best Lighting for 1 foot cube

[wynx]

Okay, been around nature a couple to times already...still have not spotted a good light for my office setup - 1 foot cube. The normal china brand(11 watts) that is being sold in the shop seems to have the wrong color temp.... Of course, looks like this is one of the limited option I have.

The new office setup will host plants such as

1. E. Tenellus
2. H. Difformis(to counter algae)
3. Dwarf Sagg.
4. Anubias Nanas
4. Java Fern
5. Ludwidga Sag

Anyone with advise or two cents worth of information are welcome to contribute.

[joe]

Heh did u get the 1 ft cube from Nature? I'm thinking of getting that too [:]

[pipsqueak]

Hi, I got the 1 foot cube from NA last time, and there was a 1 foot light set also, 2 tubes, I think its 2x11watts FL, I'm not very sure. Why not ask Mr.Chan himself if he has a set?

wynx: in my experience, when i grew H.difformis in the cube, it outgrew the cube very fast, might be good for the java ferns, if they are placed below the Difformis, but might overshadow your tennellus, might take longer to achieve a lawn effect if that was what you wanted.

[wynx]

certainly....but it is my colleague who went to get it...after Nature Aquarium Book 2....They kept pestering me to have that plant that 'pearls'...which is riccia...oso known as aids to some of my pals in the planted tank hobby....

[vinz]

AIDs? WHAHAHA... I call it Beginner's Bane.

[Plantbrain]

W-
Two lights come to mind.
One is a Quartz halogen 50 w GE color precise bulb(MR-16). These are the best IME for a pendant type set up. Not sure what you have available but the Quartz lighting accents are easy to add or place on the ceiling or wall. You can use the spot lights for long distance or use the flood lights at 25cm away etc.

The color is good for all plants I've tried out which is something like 250 species.

Tropica has a little Cube set up they sell with one.

I did it this about 10 years ago and it was a nice little system.

But it eats a fair amount of electric for the amount of usable light.

Azoo sells a little 7w and a 13w PC clip on for their little cheesy table/desk top tanks
These are briter than the single 50W in terms of lumens and the bulbs will last much longer.
They sell here for 26$ each and are quite nice IMO.

I have 2- 25cm cubes with these on them.
I'd say these are the lights of choice for tanks less than 40cm. Color temp is 7200K(about the same as Triton's) for the 13w and less for the 7w.

It is highly unlikely you need more than a 13w of PC lighting on a 1ft cube. But they are easy to add and cheap and look good.

Regards,
Tom Barr













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[Mortadelo]

Wow!, Tom, you are everywhere!

I use 2 x 24w 4100K compact fluorescents (Osram Dulux-L 840). A bit yellow but you can not find higher temp CF in Spain in non aquarium specific CF (cheaper).

Greetings!.