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Planted Lights for budget


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I got a 90 gallon for Christmas but a light did not come with it. I was wondering what is a good light for low to medium plants in a 90 gallon. Would a Finnex stingray do, or would I need a 24/7 Planted+. If a 24/7 Planted + would be the way what kind should I get? I don't have enough money to spend on a Fluval 3.0 as it would be $220. Thank you for your response.

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I personally having been using the NICREW for sometime now, they are a low end budget light.  The newest series has been vastly improved.  Some of their new series are  also now UL Rated, 

I think the dimensions of 90g are something like 48x 18 x 25.  If so, then there are some lights in by them around $45.

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The 6500k shoplights can be a good option for a four foot long tank. You can get six four foot long, 6500k, 20 watt, 2200 lumen T5 shoplights for under $50. You'll want a reflector of some sort to secure them and direct the light downward, but a lot of people use a length of gutter as a reflector. Six lights at 2200 lumen each gives you up to 13,200 lumens. That's more light than you probably need. It's a cheap and efficient option. I'm using six of the two foot long ones to light my 50 gallon tank and they do a good job. 

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+1 on the nicrew and aquaneat. I have knocked both in, and managed to rescue them. I have a DA beamsworks light that managed to draw moisture into the casing WITHOUT being knocked in. It is still functional, but I siliconed the thing and added a lid. As my most expensive light...Yeah, I went back to buying the nicrew and aquaneat lights. I see no reason to use more, on tanks where I decide I want more light (wide tanks) I just add a second and it is still cheaper.

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8 hours ago, Aquarius Aquatics said:

Could these small LED lights grow any plants they're from a 10 gallon starter tank at walmart

20210104_190307.jpg

Anubias grew under mine for the last couple of years.  Java fern struggled along (not sure if that was light or water issue).  I just upgraded to the nicrew lights about a week ago, so I'm waiting to see if/what difference there is.  They are a lot brighter.

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I had a 5gal top fin kit with basically the same lights. It grew anubias nana, buce, windelov java fern, christmas moss, red flame sword and even crinum calamistratum for me. The sword was the only thing that struggled, but it did grow. The Crinum and sword were actually bought for a 20g that never got set up because we decided to start look g for a house so they got stuck in the 5g to hopefully not die until the move. 

The thing with growing plants under really weak light is you can use really long photo periods to make up for the low intensity of the lights without causing an algae outbreak. 

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17 hours ago, Aquarius Aquatics said:

Could these small LED lights grow any plants they're from a 10 gallon starter tank at walmart

20210104_190307.jpg

I don't know if you saw but Cory has an 800 gallon with Bronze cryptocorean. He said he had the lights off for 2 weeks (only turning them on for live streams aka 2 hours a week) and they did fine. So if I were to put plants in a 10 gallon with that light it would be any type of cryptocorean. My sister has a 10 gallon with the same lights and a green cryptocorean, it just sprouted 2 leaves with the help of Easy Green of course.

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