Lighting/Filters for 54g corner?

[Chuck]

Hello,

I think I just dove a little deep into this hobby. I have a 5g kit tank with one betta fish, but have bought a used 54g corner tank with designs on having a community tank. I'm especially wondering what lighting to get and how to mount it, and also wouldn't mind some recommendations for filters. I'm sort of confused on lighting since it was all taken care of in a kit before and the corner isn't a normal shape.

Edited to add: Freshwater, and I am hoping to have lots of plants (medium-heavily planted?)

Edited November 10, 2020 by Chuck
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[Nataku]

I have a 54 gallon corner tank. I found a Nicrew light bar  will sit with its feet on the two little black triangle areas on the front corners of the tank just fine. I don't remember exactly which size I have on it. Will have to check when I get home.

I run a cannister filter on the 54, which allows me to keep the corner tank, you know, in the corner. A HOB would just cause the tank to have to sit further away from the wall. I've seen people run sumps on them too, and I'm sure you could run sponge filters as well. I also ran spare sponge filters in that tank just to keep aeration up as I kept it pretty warm in there for rams and angelfish. I also would then pull a sponge filter out any time I needed to  set up and run a quarantine tank.

Plant wise I had amazon swords, four leaf stargrass, guppy grass, hornwort, jungle valisneria,  couple java fern, water lettuce and my never ending battle with duckweed in the 54. I was running a dirted tank mind you, which I wouldnt necessarily recommend for a beginner. I'd go with an inert substrate (ie sand or smooth gravel) and liquid ferts (and root tabs if you want heavy root feedsrs like amazon swords because they are hungry hungry plants!). But the nicrew light was plenty strong enough to grow all that.

[Chuck]

Thank you @Nataku! Would love to hear what size you ended up with and also to see pictures of how it sits/connects!

[Nataku]

Don't mind the snake. That's just Judas taking a swim, its a regular occurrence in this house. But its the only pics I readily had on hand to show how the feet of the light sit nicely on the edge of the black triangles.

The light itself is the 30" long version, so the one you usually find for sale as labeled for 30-36" long tanks. The power cord just runs off the left end of the light bar down to a power strip I mounted in the stand, so all of the tubing and cabling is hidden on the 'back sides' of the tank. When I do the next incarnation of this tank, I believe I'll  put black poster board up on the two back sides (on the outside of the tank) to hide the tubes and cables even more. Though its not like you could really see them through all of the plant growth in this tank anyhow. In this pic I'm pointed right at the heater, the power line for the light bar, the intake for the cannister filter, and a sponge filter. But you can't really see any of it can you?

[faydout]

I've got a 54 corner also. I run HOB's on this so that I can baffle the outflow easier (soap dish method), with a couple of big, nasty sponge filters stacked up in the back corner. I'm running a Marineland 200 on it atm, but have had an Aquaclear 50 (I think an AC70 would fit, but wanted to be sure) and a Tidal 55 on it. For lighting, agree with Nataku. The 24 - 36" lights are your best bet. I run 2 Fluval lights (1 Aquasky, 1 3.0) on mine. Just a note on the weirdness of this size, I run a 40B right next to it and the 40B has more floor space than the 54.