# 4ft Fixture Over 6ft Tank



## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

Does anyone have 4ft fixture over 6ft tank? I'm trying to decide rather to get two 36" T5 HO fixture or just one 48" T5 HO fixture so if someone can post some picture then I can get an idea how a 6ft tank will look with a 4ft fixture.
Please specify distance between the light and tank (ie, sitting on top of the tank, 10" above the tank, etc)


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

4ft fixture would be fine. I had a 4ft shop light above my 220 gallon and my tank was always well lit. U can check out my videos in the picture video forum and see. Plus those bulbs weren't HO T5s, just regular flourecent tubes.


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

is it this video?





and this pic?









was it two bulbs? (standard shop fixture)


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

jp, I seen that you have posted on another forum a question like this. Are you trying to get high light for plants? If so, I would recommend getting the two 36" fixtures. If not, then just a 4 ft fixture would be fine. I use two 4ft fixtures on my 125g, because I didnt like the sides being dimmer than the middle. Plus I have plants on the side I wanted to grow. If you are having doubts, go with the two 36" fixtures.


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

I'm planning on growing mostly low light plants with some medium light plants such as dwarf sag. 
trying to get an idea if the edge will have enough light for low light plants such as java fern and anubias.
Catalina has some pretty good deals on 4ft fixtures, about $100 cheaper than two 3ft fixtures, or almost same price as two 3ft fixture from fishneedit which is why I'm considering 4ft fixture.


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

yEP, thats my tank. i think you will be fine with the 4ft light. yea, it was two bulbs, just regular florescent tubes.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

I'm not happy with mine and will be replacing it here shortly......Doesn't get enough light on the edges IMO..Probably has something to due with my tank being so wide and deep...lol


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

AK, your tank is 4ft wide right? you'll probably need two rolls of fixtures.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

ihave a 4ft fixture on one end of my tank though there are no plants on the side without the light. If you place it inthe middle and its a good light im sure you will be fine to grow some hardy plants on the sides

The lights on a glass top


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

Inflade said:


> yEP, thats my tank. i think you will be fine with the 4ft light. yea, it was two bulbs, just regular florescent tubes.


How hight did you mount your tank above the tank?


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

CLUSTER ONE said:


> ihave a 4ft fixture on one end of my tank though there are no plants on the side without the light. If you place it inthe middle and its a good light im sure you will be fine to grow some hardy plants on the sides
> 
> The lights on a glass top


Do you mind put the light in the middle of the tank and take a picture of it? this way I can get a better idea on how the light distribute around the edge of the tank.
your is a 4ft T5 HO with 2x54W? or 4x 54W?


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

jp80911 said:


> yEP, thats my tank. i think you will be fine with the 4ft light. yea, it was two bulbs, just regular florescent tubes.


How hight did you mount your tank above the tank?
[/quote]

i hung the light about 8 - 10 inches above the top of the tank. if you are planning on growing plants, most T5 lights come with extension arms on either end so you could rest the light on a 6ft tank (12 inch extensions on either end).

i wasnt growing lights, so if you are make sure it is right on top of the tank.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

jp80911 said:


> AK, your tank is 4ft wide right? you'll probably need two rolls of fixtures.


Yeah
it is also 600 watts

I have 4x54w T5's in 4 foot fixture on a 8 foot 270 gal that isn't cutting it either.But that is soon switched to halides anyhow....


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Here are a few pix of my 6ft tank when I had a 4ft light fixture on it. I was able to grow some low light plants using just a typical 4ft shop light form Home Depot.


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## soitsbig (Jul 30, 2005)

jp80911 said:


> Does anyone have 4ft fixture over 6ft tank? I'm trying to decide rather to get two 36" T5 HO fixture or just one 48" T5 HO fixture so if someone can post some picture then I can get an idea how a 6ft tank will look with a 4ft fixture.
> Please specify distance between the light and tank (ie, sitting on top of the tank, 10" above the tank, etc)


I dont know how to leave links,but if you look in pictures and videos I posted ( finally some pics ) by soitsbig I have a 6ft 125gal tank with a 4ft 1 light t8 8000k bulb


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Here's Soitsbig's picture.


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

Thanks a lot guys, now I have much better idea on how the light from a 4 ft fixture may look on my 180g.



AKSkirmish said:


> AK, your tank is 4ft wide right? you'll probably need two rolls of fixtures.


Yeah
it is also 600 watts

I have 4x54w T5's in 4 foot fixture on a 8 foot 270 gal that isn't cutting it either.But that is soon switched to halides anyhow....
[/quote]

I like the shimmer effect from halides but I'm cheap lol unless I can get by with just two 70W MH but I don't know how the top braces will effect the light out put if I space out the light evenly over my 180g.


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## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

i have a 4 foot on my 125g it works fine its about 9 inches short on both ends but the lighting is just fine.


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

Thanks


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

jp80911 said:


> ihave a 4ft fixture on one end of my tank though there are no plants on the side without the light. If you place it inthe middle and its a good light im sure you will be fine to grow some hardy plants on the sides
> 
> The lights on a glass top


Do you mind put the light in the middle of the tank and take a picture of it? this way I can get a better idea on how the light distribute around the edge of the tank.
your is a 4ft T5 HO with 2x54W? or 4x 54W?
[/quote]
the light on now is a single t8 tube but i also have 2 t5 fixtures but their bulbs are on their way out. Ill try to get a pic with the t8 then do all of them just to show you the effect of alot of light or little. If your tank is larger 2 4ft lights should even work. When i had my t5's going they could slightly overlap in the middle but were still thin enough they would be going over the glass lid opening


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

I personally like the light being equal throughout the tank, especially after I tested it out.

4x54w t5ho













































I think this one is only 2x54w


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

Thank you, that's exactly what I want to see.
is that 2 bulb or 4 bulb T5HO fixture?

edit: just saw it, it's 4x54w.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

the 4x54w is a lot of light in the center, just an fyi.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Last pic is fixture over left 4ft the others the fixture is in the middle. The sides of the tank with the fixture in the middle look more liek the 3rd pic and in the other ones the edges are probable abit more darker then it appears.

The light is 1 4ft t12, and in a couple of the pics there were 2x 55w t5 though they were pretty dim copared to what they can do since the bulbs are practically done.


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

Thanks for the pix


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

I have a 4ft dual ho t5 on my 220gal and by itself its not enough, I think it would be fine for a shorter tank like a 126 but not with 30"height/depth. I run a 6ft single strip t8 with mine also and its perfect.

Your tank is a 180gal right? I would def go with the 2 36in

Unless you dont mind the foggy dim look, personally I hate it


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