Which aquarium lighting to choose?

In the past, a fish in a spherical aquarium was popular, today plant aquariums are fashionable. Beautiful underwater world in glass is a decoration of many living rooms. But how to choose lighting for it?

A planted aquarium is a beautiful element of interior design. You decide how to compose the underwater landscape, what plants and other accessories you will choose. However, you must be aware that lighting is extremely important for the growth of plants in an ornamental tank. What kind of lighting works best for an aquarium? We suggest.

Decorative but also plant growth promoting lighting

The lighting itself can be divided into several types, and the main classification refers to the type of technology. The best known are the so called fluorescent lamps, i.e. a type of lighting powered by a starter or a ballast. The undoubted advantage of fluorescent lamps is that they can be easily replaced as soon as they are worn out. However, the technology has advanced significantly and this type of lighting is slowly becoming forgotten and enthusiasts of plant aquaria also reach for them less and less often. Why? Because they have been superseded by LED lighting

So what are the advantages of LED lamps? They are ideal for both deep and classic glass water tanks. LED lamps do not consume too much electricity because the diodes shine only downward, the light is not diffused. In addition, led lamps are visually attractive, they have a thin body, so they look striking as an original element associated with our aquarium. Due to the fact that the diodes shine downwards, they can be optimally positioned on the vegetation, if a particular species requires better illumination.

For aquarium lighting, some people also use HQI lamps. This type is used mainly for deep aquariums (over 80 cm), characterized by spot lighting. Interestingly, such lamps produce shadows on the bottom of the aquarium. HQI lighting is more expensive and is not suitable for use in classical aquariums.

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Aquarium lighting – why is it so important?

Aquariums should be illuminated – whether merely decorative, i.e. planted, or glass tanks with fish. Remember that appropriately matched to the type of aquarium lamps will effectively illuminate your composition, but most importantly, they will positively influence life processes in fish and plants as well as their living conditions. The type of lighting appropriately selected for the type of our aquarium (we distinguish e.g. farm aquarium, plant aquarium, biotope aquarium, natural aquarium) also helps to maintain the biological equilibrium as it creates favourable conditions for proper blooming of flora and fauna. Without light plants and fish would have no chance to survive. So before we choose lighting for our aquarium, we need to determine the type of our decorative water tank

We must take into account the fact that light lamps are not fond of moisture, so our task and priority is to choose such type of lighting that will have the least possible chance of possible contact with water. In a situation where the lamps will be exposed to even the slightest contact with water, they can be destroyed faster, stop working.

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