best way to light a 6ft tank

I have got to light a 6ft by 1.5ft wide by 2ft deep tank

Trying to work out how best to do so

I already have a pair of 4ft controllers, I figure on using at least
one of these for a tube suitable for planting (I want to keep the back
corners dark as I am fitting juwel jumbo filters there and want them
as well hidden as possible

For the front would I be best

buying a high frequency ballasts capable of driving either one or two
(not sure how many needed) 70 watt (6ft) daylight bulbs

or

a pair of controllers that would drive 2 or 4 30 watt 3ft bulbs, the
latter are off-the-shelf aquarium units (what I can't work out is
whether 2 by 3ft 30 watt bulbs is more or less the same in terms of
light output as 1 by 70 watt tube.

This tanks will use slate and black sand as a substance and house a
mixed community setup

(my gut feeling is that having a 4ft tube at back and 6ft tube and
front would be enought, but I'm not sure will this provide enought
light, however, I don't generally don't like overlit tanks that are
too bright,

Would welcome some help on this

Brian

Spindoctor wrote:
> I have got to light a 6ft by 1.5ft wide by 2ft deep tank
>
> Trying to work out how best to do so
>
> I already have a pair of 4ft controllers, I figure on using at least
> one of these for a tube suitable for planting (I want to keep the back
> corners dark as I am fitting juwel jumbo filters there and want them
> as well hidden as possible
>
> For the front would I be best
>
> buying a high frequency ballasts capable of driving either one or two
> (not sure how many needed) 70 watt (6ft) daylight bulbs
>
> or
>
> a pair of controllers that would drive 2 or 4 30 watt 3ft bulbs, the
> latter are off-the-shelf aquarium units (what I can't work out is
> whether 2 by 3ft 30 watt bulbs is more or less the same in terms of
> light output as 1 by 70 watt tube.
>
> This tanks will use slate and black sand as a substance and house a
> mixed community setup
>
> (my gut feeling is that having a 4ft tube at back and 6ft tube and
> front would be enought, but I'm not sure will this provide enought
> light, however, I don't generally don't like overlit tanks that are
> too bright,
>
> Would welcome some help on this
>
> Brian
On my 90-gal 4 ft x 1.5 ft x 2 ft deep tank I currently have three, 4 ft
Grolux WS and the (lower light) plants do fine. Because of floating
plants and the Grolux lights, the tank does not look over-bright.

So for a 6 ft long tank I'd suggest trying five, 4 ft fluorescent tubes,
staggered for even lighting.
Steve