# What type of lighting in your Frontosa/gibberosa tank?



## eighteighty (Jan 2, 2019)

My 150 was a marine reef setup and the lighting that was included are very high powered LEDs. It looks beautiful but after viewing a lot of cyphotilapia setups I would rather go with a deep underwater, low-light look.

Is anyone using a 48" ballast on their 72" tanks? I thought it might make the ends of the tank darker. What sort of bulbs do you use to give it a deep, murky look?

Please feel free to show off your tanks' lighting!


----------



## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

When I used to keep Kigomas in a 150, I did exactly that. I used a 4' shop light over the tank, and while the ends were noticeably dimmer, it was not distracting IMO. It allowed the fish to have some areas with more subdued light - being their natural niche is so deep anyway, it seemed to work well with them. Most of that time, the light only had a single bulb, too. IIRC, it was a 32w light (T8)

I'd recommend going out and purchasing a shoplight and trying it, to see if you like the dimmer end look. They are available for under $20 bucks, so it is an easy way to test.


----------



## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

My six foot tank has two 4 foot fixtures. A 10 000 K and an Actinic that gives the blue look. I find that to be a nice combination for just about any African cichlid. I am okay with darkness at the ends of the tank. Frontosas don't like a lot of light anyways.


----------



## eighteighty (Jan 2, 2019)

Thanks guys, do you have any photos? I've seen some tanks with darkened sides and thought they looked really cool


----------

