Lights

[Alaine]

Hi I’m to lighting any help would be appreciated. I have a 55 gallon tank and was thinking of getting 2 20 inch string rays . My tank has a bar in the middle each half is 23 inches or is it better to get one big 48 inch light. Help please I don’t know what to do.

[Mmiller2001]

53 minutes ago, Alaine said:

Hi I’m to lighting any help would be appreciated. I have a 55 gallon tank and was thinking of getting 2 20 inch string rays . My tank has a bar in the middle each half is 23 inches or is it better to get one big 48 inch light. Help please I don’t know what to do.

What is the purpose of your light? To grow plants or just light the tank?

[Alaine]

Grow plants for the first time.

[Mmiller2001]

2 minutes ago, Alaine said:

Grow plants for the first time.

You could go either route, one long one or 2 shorter ones. You probably want lights in the 6500K range and a good PAR at around 18 inches. Your tank is 21 inches high? A decent par would be 40 or so at 18 inches. Higher would be better. See if you can find the PAR of those Sting Ray's. Look at the Finnix line of light's, they are pretty good for the price. 

[Isaac M]

Hi @Alaine, the link below is a light and plant guide by the team at Aquarium Co-op. 

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/pages/led-aquarium-lighting

For a 55 gallon, a 48” finnex stingray would be considered low light and can grow plants in the low light category. A 48” fluval 3.0 light could be considered low to high light as you can adjust the intensity for your needs using an app on your phone. So it would really depend on your budget and what kind of plants you would like to grow. 

I hope that helps! 

[Mmiller2001]

Doh! Sting Ray's are Finnex. Are you talking about the V2 Stingrays? They should be fine for entry level.

 

[Alaine]

Thank you everybody for the advice it was great help