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I'm planning a 150 gallon Tanganyika Cichlid tank. The cannister filters I've seen have been Eheim, Fluval, Rena, and Magnum. So far, the Eheim has been the most expensive, about $150 more expensive. Is the Eheim worth the extra money, or should I go with something else?

Also, how many watts of lighting should I have? I want it to be bright, but I don't want to be blinded. The plants I'm going to have are java moss, java fern, anubias or amazon sword leaf. The dimensions are 48" long 30" tall and 24" front to back. I was guessing somewhere around 200 watts... but I could be way off.

Thanks for the advice!
-Nick

Last edited by nickman713 at 23-Jan-2006 19:33

Hi,
The plants, with the exception of the Amazon Sword are
basically low light plants and should do fine with 1.5
watts/gallon. The sword will prosper at about 2 watts
per gallon and higher.
Being 30 inches tall, you might want to consider bulbs
in the 8800K to 10,000K range as the light toward the blue
end of the spectrum penetrates the depths better.

Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 23-Jan-2006 19:41

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I will not comment on the lighting I just buy the Sea plant and day light tubes certainly not the cheapest but are good quality and should last two years before replacements.

Filter again cost equals quality. If you want the best you will have to pay for it. Eheim stands for quality, and long time reliability. I am running two Eheims at the moment and never a problem with either.

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
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Keith

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I don't have the money and I didn't think it worth the extra cost to get an eheim. I got a jebo odyssea filter which has some cheaper parts but otherwise is much the same design as an eheim at around half the price. The tubing, spray bar, and intake strainer are all of obviously lower quality and thinner plastic than the eheim parts. I figure if those parts actually do break they are the easiest to replace anyway. So far I've had no problems with it.

I'd have to agree the sword probably won't grow well in that light. I had some baby amazon swords in a 20g with around that much light and despite being considerably closer to the lighting they didn't grow that well. I'd definitely try to get at least 2wpg to grow amazon swords.
I'm not sure the best way to light that tank. One reason I stuck with a 90g 4' long tank instead of getting a 120g or bigger was because of the lighting. The best you can fit end to end on a 4' tank are 65w bulbs and those usually come in a fixture of 4 bulbs. However while that gives my 90g nearly 3wpg your 150g still wouldn't even make 2wpg. Either you'd have to find a 6 bulb fixture, use 2 fixtures, or settle for lower light plants.

Hi Sham,
You should be able to get either 65 watt or 95 watt
compact flourscent bulbs for that fixture.
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

as for the canisters, i would check out the rena filstar xp3. they are great, high quality filters for half the price of the eheims. eheims are the best, but the rena is a close second. the renas are a shade noisier than the eheims though. mainenance is very easy for the xp3 and it holds a ton of media and filter sponges. for your own good, dont get magnum350's. i have two of them and i really dont like them. very hard to tear apart and clean. dont hold much media and very cheap feel. for your tank, i would get at least 2 xp3's. this way, you can clean each one seperately (clean one every couple weeks or so)so you dont comprimise your biofiltration.
as for lights; i would check out a 48" double metal halide setup. check out coralife 150w double light fixture. i use a single 150w 10k bulb and flourescent bulbs on my 180g tank. it is 24" deep and it really looks nice. it gives the water ripple effect on the bottom of the tank. looks very natural. even a double 70w mh would look good, but not quite as bright. to keep light from spilling out, you can make a simple canopy to shield the light at the top of the tank. you can have them built into a fixture that lays on top of the tank or have pendants that hang from the ceiling. mh isnt only for reef tanks. i would go with 10k bulbs. they look more white and may have a slight blue tint. i use the coralife HOB aqualight advanced 150w mh. it clamps onto the back of the tank. it isnt the best setup for my tank, but it looks good. i wish i could get at least one more to even the light out a bit, but it will work for now. check out hellolights.com. they have great prices and great service. High output t5 bulbs would be nice on your tank also. i would stay away from pc bulbs. they are too expensive and dont last very long. t5's last for a couple years and mh will last at least a year or longer. anymore questions, blast away! by the way the 150 is a great size tank. is it going to be for tropheus?