What light would you recommend for a 20 gallon long?

[Crow]

It's a planted tank with cO2. I have a fluval on it now, but it's not wide enough so the plants at the edges are doing the lean.

Thanks 🙂

[anewbie]

I really like the new freshwater ai blade; having said that a 20 long is pretty shallow and a lot of lights that are less expensive will do equally well with regards to plant growth. You could probably get away with the ultra cheap hygger, beamworks, or a dozen other lights in the $50-$70 range; the 30 inch blade would cost around $270. I've not used the co-op light; so i don't know how neutral the spectrum is to the eye but the fluval 3.0 which it seems to be based off of has a bit of a yellow tint - i don't find it that bad but others object to it (I have several plant 3.0); also the co-op version doesn't come on gradually it comes on at whatever setting you have so if you have sensitive fishes it can startled them pretty bad.

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I'd not get anything stronger than the blade which is already overkill for a 12 inch tall aquarium. Chiros has a low end light but no clue how the spectrum compares; i know the plan wrgb 2 is not very neutral and while very strong i don't really like them much. 

 

[Crow]

Thank you. Looked it up and the freshwater ai blade seems to have great features. I really like that they have one that comes in the exact width I need. I'll have to keep that one in mind.

And yeah, the lack of a proper ramp up/down is what's mostly making the co-op light a pass for me. Otherwise I don't really mind the yellow cast too much either. I have some spare nicrew controllers sitting around, but idk if they'll fit the co-op light.

[Galabar]

The Fluval Planted 3.0 is a good light.  However, it doesn't have memory.  So, if it loses power, you need to launch the app and connect to it.  It's quick to connect, but still a bit of a pain.

 

[Crow]

On 10/23/2023 at 6:59 PM, Galabar said:

The Fluval Planted 3.0 is a good light.  However, it doesn't have memory.  So, if it loses power, you need to launch the app and connect to it.  It's quick to connect, but still a bit of a pain.

 

I love my fluval 3.0s! I actually have them on 3 out of my 4 tanks since they're so easy to find and buy and work great. So far my only problem with them is that they don't make a 30 inch and the 24 inch doesn't seem to put out a whole lot of light to the sides.

[Galabar]

On 10/23/2023 at 11:58 PM, Crow said:

I love my fluval 3.0s! I actually have them on 3 out of my 4 tanks since they're so easy to find and buy and work great. So far my only problem with them is that they don't make a 30 inch and the 24 inch doesn't seem to put out a whole lot of light to the sides.

Yes, covering a 29 gallon with the 24 - 30 inch light leaves a little to be desired.  The Aquarium Co Op lights definitely win there by having "all" of the sizes, up to 48 inches.

[anewbie]

The plant 3.0 does a good job covering a 29; i have several on those aquarium; but at the price point the blade is stronger; and more neutral. The plant 3.0 offers good water proofing and 3 year warranty compared to the blade ip66 and 1 year warranty.

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My oldest plant 3.0 is around 4 1/2 years while my oldest blade is around 8 months - here is my comparison picture:

 

Same aquarium with plant 3.0; as with all such comparison the setting on the lights make a difference but still looking at the substrate esp the left front corner show the difference in colour balance; take this with a grain of salt since the camera is also adjusting white balance.

 

 

[Galabar]

For some perspective, here is the ACO light (on a 29 gallon):

Here is the Fluval 3.0:

They are both around the same wattage.  The Fluval will leave some outer parts of the tank less lit than the center.

Here's another perspective of the ACO light:

Notice that the Fluval really compresses the LEDs towards the center:

A "real" 30" version of the Fluval would be a killer.  However, as it stands, it just doesn't quite do justice to 29 or 20 long aquariums.

Edited October 24, 2023 by Galabar

[anewbie]

On 10/24/2023 at 3:56 PM, Galabar said:

For some perspective, here is the ACO light (on a 29 gallon):

Here is the Fluval 3.0:

They are both around the same wattage.  The Fluval will leave some outer parts of the tank less lit than the center.

Here's another perspective of the ACO light:

Notice that the Fluval really compresses the LEDs towards the center:

A "real" 30" version of the Fluval would be a killer.  However, as it stands, it just doesn't quite do justice to 29 or 20 long aquariums.

As noted earlier in this thread the problem is that the co-op light misses one 'critical' feature and that is ramp up in the morning. The value of this feature really depends on the fishes you keep but there are quite a few species that get quite stress/startled with the sudden turning on of a bright light. Not sure i fully understand why this feature was removed as the light intensity can be set so having a feature that step through the intensity at startup for the first hour would not be horribly expensive. 

[Galabar]

On 10/25/2023 at 7:40 AM, anewbie said:

As noted earlier in this thread the problem is that the co-op light misses one 'critical' feature and that is ramp up in the morning. The value of this feature really depends on the fishes you keep but there are quite a few species that get quite stress/startled with the sudden turning on of a bright light. Not sure i fully understand why this feature was removed as the light intensity can be set so having a feature that step through the intensity at startup for the first hour would not be horribly expensive. 

The ACO light does have a ramp up feature.  It's not instant on, but only ramps up within a few seconds (so, not as good as the Fluval in that respect).