Lighting

[Reaperpilot2014]

There are a lot of different lighting types out there in various color ranges. Without the need to support live plants, what lights do you like best for your freshwater puffer tanks, especially for larger tanks (i.e. Fahaka). I'm looking for a better light for Ramses's tank and want something that will really bring out the colors in the tank.

[Reaperpilot2014]

I currently have a standard fluorescent light fixture.

[sevenyearnight]

Hmm.. I don't know because all of my freshwater tanks are planted. But if I were to guess, I'd say that a full spectrum bulb would do the colors justice as it is supposed to replicate sunlight. You can go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a 6500K T8 bulb, if you have that type of fixture. I think I would not personally get a T5 fixture for a freshwater tank unless I was going to make it planted, due to cost.

What type of fixture do you have currently, and what type of light?

[sevenyearnight]

I currently have a standard fluorescent light fixture.

Is it the kind that comes with the tank, like the single strip with reflector? Is it T8?

[bertie 83]

On my fahaka tank i run 4 tubes on a standard fitting.I run 2x 18000k powerglow and 2x standardish (lol) cheaper bulbs. Seems to do the job just fine

[Reaperpilot2014]

TBH I have no idea what kind it is since the box is in storage somewhere. I have never paid much attention to my lighting. It is the one that came with the tank and has a reflector. The puffers get what they need and I can see them. Now that I'm aware there are lights that are supposed to produce more vivid coloring in the tank, I'm interested.

[Reaperpilot2014]

Out of everything in aquaria, lighting would have to be the area I know the least about. It's probably like trying to graduate from using a calculator to a laptop at this point.

[bertie 83]

do bear in mind fahakas have limited colour, i have tried many things to improve his colouring with little success,

[xrayjeeper83]

Really unless you have plants, lights are up to you. Ramses wont really care, hell mine seem to like the lights off more then on

[Reaperpilot2014]

Right, it's not really for him and I don't plan on putting any live plants in there. His lighting is certainly sufficient. I guess I'm just trying to find out if there's something that would make his coloring appear more vivid, although I recognize it would not actually change in all likelihood. He has a lot of green and red developing on his stripes, so I wanted to focus on that.

[sevenyearnight]

For this purpose, I'd suggest the 6500K bulb. I'm happy with the way the colors look in the tank.
The lower the Kelvin rating, the more yellow the light will look, so a 2800K - 5000K will cast a yellowish light. 6500K is where it appears to be more of a "white" light, and is supposed to replicate mid day sun near the equator (not sure how accurate it is lol) and as the Kelvin rating goes up, the light goes from a really crisp white light, like 10,000K, to a blueish light. If you're ever driving down the road, and you see those obnoxiously bright blueish headlights, those are probably the 20000K headlights.

[xrayjeeper83]

Im no lighting expert, hell I dont even know what kind I have for my sw tank and I just bought it LOL. But I have 10k light on my fahaka tank and it lights him up really well

[Reaperpilot2014]

Thank you both! That helps me to at least know what I'm looking for so I can start browsing lights!

[RTR]

Puffers do react strongly to substrate, background, decor and lighting colors. What you select and use does have highly significant effects on the fish's colors.

Most of my tanks are planted, and I also use primarily 6500K output full-spectrum tubes. For FW, most of my substrates are a so-called natural gravel (principally Estes Numeg - I have hundreds of pounds of it). Some of it is mixed 50:50 with Seachem Flourite.

[Reaperpilot2014]

Thanks RTR. I've seen Fahaka's with maroon stripes, but Ramses's are a rich, blood red color, probably resulting from the substrate and plants I have. I want my lighting to encourage that.