lighting

[news]

I have 29 gallon with LR so far one coral and one fish. I bought a new
tube(marine glow blue) today and installed it. It is 20W and the light
spectrum says over 18,000.

My question is, I put the light in the tank looks really blue. Shouldn't it
be a more neutral color? I have only the new tube running since my light
only takes on tube. Should I look at improving this or is it normal?

Thanks so much,
Kelly

[Adam]

> I have 29 gallon with LR so far one coral and one fish. I bought a new
> tube(marine glow blue) today and installed it. It is 20W and the light
> spectrum says over 18,000.
>
> My question is, I put the light in the tank looks really blue. Shouldn't
it
> be a more neutral color? I have only the new tube running since my light
> only takes on tube. Should I look at improving this or is it normal?


For the coral you will probably need better lighting. You will need to
replace your current hood with a glass top and then put a new light fixture
over that. My lights are mounted to a wooden canopy. You'll probably want
to go with a minimum of one 65 watt, 10,000 K daylight bulb and one 65 watt
Actinic (blue light) bulb.

The blue color is normal for the bulb you bought. Its their attempt at
combining the two lights that I mentioned above. If you had a fish only
with live rock (FOWLR) tank that would probably be fine although you
wouldn't get much activity from the rock. Once you get into the corals
and/or inverts everything changes.

HTH

Ed

[Dragon Slayer]

"Adam" > wrote in message
...


>65 watt
> Actinic (blue light) bulb.
>

Actinic is violite not blue. the blue lights like the one mentioned my Kelly
aren't as productive as the true Actinic.
Corals benefit greatly from the addition of Actinic lighting and some thrive
with only it, it just has to be in an abundant enough amount of intensity.

kc

[news]

I added two of the mini-compact fluorescents 50/50 from Coralife that I had
aswell. So that gives me the one blue (20 watts 18 000k and another 20 watts
and 20 000k) Think that will be enough until I can afford to replace them?
"Adam" > wrote in message
...
>
> > I have 29 gallon with LR so far one coral and one fish. I bought a new
> > tube(marine glow blue) today and installed it. It is 20W and the light
> > spectrum says over 18,000.
> >
> > My question is, I put the light in the tank looks really blue. Shouldn't
> it
> > be a more neutral color? I have only the new tube running since my light
> > only takes on tube. Should I look at improving this or is it normal?
>
>
> For the coral you will probably need better lighting. You will need to
> replace your current hood with a glass top and then put a new light
fixture
> over that. My lights are mounted to a wooden canopy. You'll probably
want
> to go with a minimum of one 65 watt, 10,000 K daylight bulb and one 65
watt
> Actinic (blue light) bulb.
>
> The blue color is normal for the bulb you bought. Its their attempt at
> combining the two lights that I mentioned above. If you had a fish only
> with live rock (FOWLR) tank that would probably be fine although you
> wouldn't get much activity from the rock. Once you get into the corals
> and/or inverts everything changes.
>
> HTH
>
> Ed
>
>

[Adam]

> I added two of the mini-compact fluorescents 50/50 from Coralife that I
had
> aswell. So that gives me the one blue (20 watts 18 000k and another 20
watts
> and 20 000k) Think that will be enough until I can afford to replace them?

I guess it will have to be. You can only use what you can afford. Did you
buy the coral or did it come on the live rock? I don't know much about
coral but I do know that some coral requires better lights than others. The
lights I told you to get are what I use on my 29 gallon reef. They seem to
do a pretty good job but as with most of this stuff it could be better. I
got these lights as a bargain from my LFS rep. He was upgrading his system
and offered to sell them to me for $100.00. I know what you mean by being
able to afford it. If you can't afford an upgrade just stick with fish and
live rock until you can get the better lights. Just take it slow and easy a
step at a time.

Ed

[Harald]

I would suggest getting a 6500K and a 10000K bulb. They are a closer match
to real daylight then the over 10000K lights. The sun shines in the 6500K
range, if that helps.


--
Harald
130 g Skimmerless SW Tank
290 pound 6" DSB
70 lbs LR
3 B/G Chromis, 1 Tomato Clown, 1 Lawnmower Blenny, 1 Flame Angel, 1 Foxface.

20 gal Skimmerless SW Nano
80 lbs/6" DSB
31 lbs LR, 1 - 3-Striped damsel, 1 Blue Devil, 1 sm. Tang

[Pszemol]

"Harald" > wrote in message news:N3uqb.144091$EO3.26005@clgrps13...
> The sun shines in the 6500K range, if that helps.

Right, but water filters out spectrum the way,
only blue reaches deeps. White, 6500K light at
the water surface becomes blue and violet at 50-100 feet.

So natural sun light arriving at the ocean deeps
is NOT 6500K, it is rather blue than white.
And to this kind of light wave adopted corals
for thousands years. This is the kind of light
you need to try to duplicate over your reef tank.

[TomW]

I'm thinking of upgrading my lighting for my 75 gal tank to support coral &
anemones. I currently have a FOWLR. Will a 48" 260W Coralife compact
flourescent be sufficient? I'd like to buy a MH, but I don't have the $$ for
this at the moment. Coralife seems like a good light, but I'm not sure the
light will reach the bottom of the tank sufficiently.
TIA
-TomW

[Dragon Slayer]

IMHO that is not nearly enough light for a 75 gallon tank. that is the
amount of light (4x65w PC) that I have over my 29 and its just barley enough
for anemone/clams/sps in there.

kc

"TomW" > wrote in message
...
> I'm thinking of upgrading my lighting for my 75 gal tank to support coral
&
> anemones. I currently have a FOWLR. Will a 48" 260W Coralife compact
> flourescent be sufficient? I'd like to buy a MH, but I don't have the $$
for
> this at the moment. Coralife seems like a good light, but I'm not sure the
> light will reach the bottom of the tank sufficiently.
> TIA
> -TomW
>
>

[TomW]

As I suspected.
Looks like I should a) take back the anemone before it dies and b) start
saving for some serious lighting.
Does anyone else have a 75Gal reef tank that can recommend a decent setup?
Keep in mind I have a family to feed (in addition to fish)!
Thanks,
TomW

> IMHO that is not nearly enough light for a 75 gallon tank. that is the
> amount of light (4x65w PC) that I have over my 29 and its just barley
enough
> for anemone/clams/sps in there.
>
> kc
>
> > I'm thinking of upgrading my lighting for my 75 gal tank to support
coral
> &
> > anemones. I currently have a FOWLR. Will a 48" 260W Coralife compact
> > flourescent be sufficient? I'd like to buy a MH, but I don't have the $$
> for
> > this at the moment. Coralife seems like a good light, but I'm not sure
the
> > light will reach the bottom of the tank sufficiently.
> > TIA
> > -TomW
> >
> >
>
>

[Dragon Slayer]

I placed 2x400 MH over my 75 and it worked great. you can go with 2x150/175
or even 250w with great success as well. the retro kits will only set you
back about $200 ea with electronic ballast. you can add them one at the
time as money is available to help out. just build your canopy to
accommodate both when you build it.

kc

"TomW" > wrote in message
...
> As I suspected.
> Looks like I should a) take back the anemone before it dies and b) start
> saving for some serious lighting.
> Does anyone else have a 75Gal reef tank that can recommend a decent setup?
> Keep in mind I have a family to feed (in addition to fish)!
> Thanks,
> TomW
>
> > IMHO that is not nearly enough light for a 75 gallon tank. that is the
> > amount of light (4x65w PC) that I have over my 29 and its just barley
> enough
> > for anemone/clams/sps in there.
> >
> > kc
> >
> > > I'm thinking of upgrading my lighting for my 75 gal tank to support
> coral
> > &
> > > anemones. I currently have a FOWLR. Will a 48" 260W Coralife compact
> > > flourescent be sufficient? I'd like to buy a MH, but I don't have the
$$
> > for
> > > this at the moment. Coralife seems like a good light, but I'm not sure
> the
> > > light will reach the bottom of the tank sufficiently.
> > > TIA
> > > -TomW
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

[Mort]

"Dragon Slayer" > wrote in message
...
> IMHO that is not nearly enough light for a 75 gallon tank. that is the
> amount of light (4x65w PC) that I have over my 29 and its just barley
enough
> for anemone/clams/sps in there.
>
> kc


With all due respect, I did hours of research and asked lots of questions on
this NG before I bought my light setup. I was under the impression that a
265W PC fixture would suffice for a 75 gal reef.

Comments?

~Mort

[Dragon Slayer]

it will keep leathers, zoo's and shrooms, but no sps/clams or the liks for
long at the time. anemones can be feed regularly and kept ,but its not
optimal by any means. and most likely they wont live any extended amount of
time.

kc

"Mort" > wrote in message
y.com...
>
> "Dragon Slayer" > wrote in message
> ...
> > IMHO that is not nearly enough light for a 75 gallon tank. that is the
> > amount of light (4x65w PC) that I have over my 29 and its just barley
> enough
> > for anemone/clams/sps in there.
> >
> > kc
>
>
> With all due respect, I did hours of research and asked lots of questions
on
> this NG before I bought my light setup. I was under the impression that a
> 265W PC fixture would suffice for a 75 gal reef.
>
> Comments?
>
> ~Mort
>
>
>

[news]

So is there such thing as too much light? ( I don't mean the amount of hours
per day but the actual wattage etc.)

[Mort]

"Dragon Slayer" > wrote in message
...
> it will keep leathers, zoo's and shrooms, but no sps/clams or the liks for
> long at the time. anemones can be feed regularly and kept ,but its not
> optimal by any means. and most likely they wont live any extended amount
of
> time.
>
> kc
>


Well I'm glad this came up now =) I have a few more months before I
"intentionally" add any corals so looks like I might need to start saving
for some MH. Thanks for the correction kc.

~Mort

[wolfhedd]

you could always add some more power compacts too right? seems it may be
cheaper. did somebody recommend adding a MH? compacts are easy to place
cause there small.
I would get te MH too if i could afford it, lol. actually, SOME DAY!!!! :-)
:-) :-)
wolfhedd

"Mort" > wrote in message
y.com...
>
> "Dragon Slayer" > wrote in message
> ...
> > it will keep leathers, zoo's and shrooms, but no sps/clams or the liks
for
> > long at the time. anemones can be feed regularly and kept ,but its not
> > optimal by any means. and most likely they wont live any extended
amount
> of
> > time.
> >
> > kc
> >
>
>
> Well I'm glad this came up now =) I have a few more months before I
> "intentionally" add any corals so looks like I might need to start saving
> for some MH. Thanks for the correction kc.
>
> ~Mort
>
>
>

[Chauncey Gardener]

In article >, Mort
> wrote:

> With all due respect, I did hours of research and asked lots of questions on
> this NG before I bought my light setup. I was under the impression that a
> 265W PC fixture would suffice for a 75 gal reef.

I have 260 watts on my 70g:

2 x 55w 10K PC
2 x 55w 10K/Actinic PC
1 40w NO flourescent

The NO ballast was given to me. I bought ballasts etc. for the PCs,
about $80 total, and wired them myself. They are mounted in a wooden
canopy. Minimal investment, and I seem to be doing OK so far with a
corkscrew anenome, flower tree coral, xenia, and lots of mushrooms.

I imagine I would have trouble keeping some of the more light-demanding
corals, though.

--
To reply by email, please edit return address as indicated.

[nanoreef]

In article t>, wolfhedd wrote:
> you could always add some more power compacts too right? seems it may be
> cheaper. did somebody recommend adding a MH? compacts are easy to place
> cause there small.
> I would get te MH too if i could afford it

There is an article floating around that showed that MH is cheaper in
the long term due to longer bulb life. If memory serves it was after 2
or 3 years. Power compact and Metal Halide are equally efficient in
terms of lumens/watt. MH does produce a rippled lighting pattern that
many people find pleasing. The spectrums of PC and MH vary
greatly. That is neither good nor bad, just something to concider.

[Pszemol]

"nanoreef" > wrote in message .cable.rogers.com...
> There is an article floating around that showed that MH is cheaper in
> the long term due to longer bulb life. If memory serves it was after 2
> or 3 years. Power compact and Metal Halide are equally efficient in
> terms of lumens/watt. MH does produce a rippled lighting pattern that
> many people find pleasing. The spectrums of PC and MH vary
> greatly. That is neither good nor bad, just something to concider.

I am not sure about this equal efficiency... MH and balasts for them
produce much more heat than power compacts! If so, they should be less
efficient in lumens/watt if part of watts are dissipated as heat.
Of course it might be the same effect like with light: concentration
on smaller area. Maybe this is the reason they seem to be hotter ? :-)

[Harald]

"Pszemol" > wrote in message
...
> "Harald" > wrote in message
news:N3uqb.144091$EO3.26005@clgrps13...
> > The sun shines in the 6500K range, if that helps.
>
> Right, but water filters out spectrum the way,
> only blue reaches deeps. White, 6500K light at
> the water surface becomes blue and violet at 50-100 feet.
>
> So natural sun light arriving at the ocean deeps
> is NOT 6500K, it is rather blue than white.
> And to this kind of light wave adopted corals
> for thousands years. This is the kind of light
> you need to try to duplicate over your reef tank.

You are correct.

But for general appearance, the lower K lights do make the tank look nicer,
with a proper mix of high k lights. ie. my tank has 3 - actinics, 2 - 10000
K bulbs, and 1 - 6500 k bulb, and 2 - 12000 k bulbs(all PC's). Lots of light
in the correct spectrum for what I have, and enough 'natural' light, that it
gives the tank a pleasing appearance.