lighting ?
 

Spent a lot of time on the nano reef site and many of the corals thrive
in low - high lighting. My question is, what is low lighting for them?
In my dutch aquarium I use full spectrum lighting for my plants. Would
the same work for the low light requirements of some of the corals? I
use the standard hood on my tank which has room for one bulb.

Thank you,
Vicki

lighting ?
 

Well.. I have a 48inch two light shop fixture that sits on the top of mine..
the reflector sides go all the way down so it sits on the edges of those..
it's made by Lights of America however and they don't seem to be in biz
anymore. the other fixtures (two light shops) i use for my plants do not
have the reflector made the same, so they suck for anything but hanging. I
have a coralife 10Kk daylight ( i think it was daylight) and an actinic in
it.. just put the actinic in couple weeks ago and wishing i'd gotten the
50/50 instead. I do NOT have any high light requiring corals in there, but
the polyps I have, especially a ricordia, supposedly need strong light, but
they are doing great in my tank.. they are normal output flourescents by the
way. The actinic is just for looks.. it brings out the flouresence in the
polyps and they look really neat. Kind of works like a blacklight. I don't
know if just one bulb would be enough even for lower light requirements.
Really depends on exactly which ones you want.

Teeb

"~Vicki ~" wrote in message
...
Spent a lot of time on the nano reef site and many of the corals thrive
in low - high lighting. My question is, what is low lighting for them?
In my dutch aquarium I use full spectrum lighting for my plants. Would
the same work for the low light requirements of some of the corals? I
use the standard hood on my tank which has room for one bulb.

Thank you,
Vicki

lighting ?
 

Hummmm wondering out loud here. What is so special about the more
expensive lighting? Is it the bulb? or is it the fixture? Just
wondering if Home Depot would have something that would work for a lot
less money. I don't mind suspending it over the tank.

Vicki

Visit me on line at http://shamrock4u.250free.com

lighting ?
 

ok, lighting, i will give you a basic rundown. its all about the spectrum.
NO-normal output flourescent lighting is cheap to run, and relatively
cheaper to buy than halides. NO lighting is limited in spectrum. you
should have atleast one 50/50 which is 50 percent actinic (Deep Ultra
Violet)and 50 percent natural daylight 6000Kelvin(kelvin is a temperature
mesaurement that is used to also measure color), and one 10,000K Daylight.
This will give you a good spectrum. Now if you buy these in 24 and 36 inch,
i think they are only 20watt per bulb, but for bigger tanks you can get the
4 feet version which is 40 watts per bulb. now its not actually about the
watts, its about the lumens, the actual amount of light that the watts are
producing. Flourescents cost cheap to operate per lumen, where halided are
expensive per lumen, but Halides, you get what you pay for, many many many
lumens, the valuable portion of the procedure! Flourescents cant burn as hot
as halides so they cant produce as much light, therefore are bulky for the
amount of output, but still cheaper.

Halides cost more, run hotter, run brighter for their comparable size, and
have more of a spectrum range, which ultimately allows for quicker
production of life due to non stressful conditions with perfect light. The
spectrum band is not as narrow, instead of just covering right around the
10000k band for instance, its more like 5500k or 6000k all the way up to
10500k imagine. The fixtures cost more, the bulbs cost more, together the
amount of electricity burning in that bulb is amazing and temperatures are
even more amazing, despite all this its still safe if you have a good lite
with a cover over the bulb so water doesnt hit that baby. Halides make a
beautiful lite, looks like sunshine in a box! Makes fish stand out like
never before. Worth the cost. i would get 150-250 watts of this kind of
lighting to start off but you can buy smaller 60 watt versions i think that
take up less that half the space of 80 watts of 4 feet flourescent bulbs.
you wont have to hang a halide i dont think. you will most likely have to
hang flourescents.
wolfhedd.
..
"~Vicki ~" wrote in message
...
Hummmm wondering out loud here. What is so special about the more
expensive lighting? Is it the bulb? or is it the fixture? Just
wondering if Home Depot would have something that would work for a lot
less money. I don't mind suspending it over the tank.

Vicki

Visit me on line at http://shamrock4u.250free.com

lighting ?
 

There is actually one semi-useful light you can get at most homedepot
stores- the Lights of America 65W Flourolux. It is a mogle based power
compact bulb at 6400k and comes in a outdoor or worklight fixture. They
cost under $40 and can be used for soft corals quite nicely. I have 2 on my
30g propagation tank- color is OK and growth has been impressive. I have a
variety of leathers, nepthea, colts, mushrooms, polyps and even some LPS
like hammer, bubble and elegance under them. All of the corals show better
in my display tank with 50/50 PC lighting but don't grow as fast.

Reefcentral has had a few threads on the use. Mine have run for over 6
months. I added ventilation holes to the enclosure to allow heat to build
up based on comments about the electronic ballasts frying and have not had
an issue. I eventually added polished aluminum flashing to the inner
surface of the housing for better reflection- they come with a white painted
reflector.

Sam Mancuso


"richard reynolds" wrote in message
. ..
Hummmm wondering out loud here. What is so special about the more
expensive lighting? Is it the bulb? or is it the fixture? Just
wondering if Home Depot would have something that would work for a lot
less money. I don't mind suspending it over the tank.

home depot is great if you want to light your garage or patio, or even
your refugium or
ATS, the problem with homedepot light is you dont get very efficient color
spectrum output
and usually its high in yellow and red, even IF it apears to be brighter
and it very well
might, it will do very little good over a reef, as it will grow algae
faster and wont be
as productive towards corals. so once you move into the specific light
fixtures for reefs,
the cost break is what style of light and how its pre configured, you can
have the same
wattage PC as MH and the other way around for the same cost, the MH
fixture will be
cheaper(not always bad) or the PC fixture will be more $$$ (not alwasy
good) one nice
thing about MH is all the light comes from a small area so its easier to
direct, a bad
thing about that is its harder to cover shadows created by a single point
light. PC and
VHO are the oposite there light is not directed upon a small area, and
shadows are less,
but lighting that prized clam is more dificult

another smaller issue as most of them have quick fixes most home depot
lights are not
really suited for suspension over water, along that lines some of the
aquarium lights are
not so great in that area either

HTH
Vicki

--
--
richard reynolds



~Vicki ~ wrote in message
...


Visit me on line at http://shamrock4u.250free.com

lighting ?
 

Thank you Sam. I got the same info off the nano reef site. Wal-mart
caries a similar system for $10 too. Then I just get one of them black
light bulbs for my current light and can keep soft corals in there.
That nano reef site is a wealth if info and I sure am glad I saved it.

Vicki

lighting ?
 

My 55 gal is about 7 years old now. I run 2 - 40w Actinic florescent
bulbs as well as 2 - 175W Mercury vapor bulbs. The spectrum of the MV bulbs
are very close to a 6500k MH bulb, although they are not near as efficient
but much cheaper.
I bought 2 outdoor fixtures from Wal-Mart/Lows for about $19, stripped
the ballast and bulbs and mounted in my home made hood. Over the years I
have tried Iwaski 6500's which run on a MV ballast. 250W 6500k and 5500k
Metal Halide (which look the best ) However a 6500k MH cost about $60 or
more and a MV cost $10 and lasts about the same. I use the coated MV bulbs
which look better. I have tried soft corals and hard corals and have met
with moderate success with all. However I have found out that soft corals
grow the best, like shrooms, polops and leathers.



"Chauncey Gardener" wrote in
message news:020820031042000786%Chancey_Gardener@removethi s.graffiti.net...
In article , Dave Johnson
wrote:

As another posted indicated, it's all about lumens (lux) Thinking in
terms
of watts/gallon can get you a very broad spectrum of info, but the
actual
amount of usable light delivered is different based on delivery of those
watts.

I'm not an expert, but- won't lumens be just an approximation of the
usable light for a reef? I thought the lumen was a measure of
available light only in the spectrum visible to the human eye.

Maybe looking at lumens is the best approximation available of how
useful a particular bulb will be in a reef situation--?



If you decide to buy lights online, check out www.hellolights.com I
got
my Ice Cap from Jeff at www.exoticfish.com (join their free club, the
ballasts

Also, www.ahsupply.com has the best prices I've seen on 10,000K PCs
(55w)- and their service is commendable.

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

lighting ?
 

ya, i hear that mercury vapor is unusable spectrum, kinda green, i have one
that was using as a supplement to the 2 40w NO's, but now i just have 4-40w
NO's. Lumens in my opinion would be best way to rate, not watts.
especially when your talking about comparing different spectrums and
different sources. its basically lumens per watt when your talking
efficiency and economy and its all about MAX lumens in the proper spectrum
for those of you where money in not the main aspect in choosing. Lumens is
definetly the most important, and that it is in the proper spectrums. and
once again, Lumens per watt is only to measure efficiency, dont worry about
this, worry most about LUMENS, then decide wether your willing to pay the
price for the electric bill according to the watts.
wolfhedd

p.s. all metyal haluides and mercury vapors and high pressure sodiums from
home deopt and lowes are the improper spectrum for good coral growth, you
will need special coral lights, theres almost no way around this unless you
will settle for NO's, then if so, you can go to lowes and homedepot and but
the 10 dollar 4 feet fixtures, then go to the fish store and buy the bulbs.

wolfhedd


"Larry W" wrote in message
...
My 55 gal is about 7 years old now. I run 2 - 40w Actinic florescent
bulbs as well as 2 - 175W Mercury vapor bulbs. The spectrum of the MV
bulbs
are very close to a 6500k MH bulb, although they are not near as efficient
but much cheaper.
I bought 2 outdoor fixtures from Wal-Mart/Lows for about $19, stripped
the ballast and bulbs and mounted in my home made hood. Over the years I
have tried Iwaski 6500's which run on a MV ballast. 250W 6500k and 5500k
Metal Halide (which look the best ) However a 6500k MH cost about $60 or
more and a MV cost $10 and lasts about the same. I use the coated MV bulbs
which look better. I have tried soft corals and hard corals and have met
with moderate success with all. However I have found out that soft corals
grow the best, like shrooms, polops and leathers.



"Chauncey Gardener" wrote in
message
news:020820031042000786%Chancey_Gardener@removethi s.graffiti.net...
In article , Dave Johnson
wrote:

As another posted indicated, it's all about lumens (lux) Thinking
in
terms
of watts/gallon can get you a very broad spectrum of info, but the
actual
amount of usable light delivered is different based on delivery of
those
watts.

I'm not an expert, but- won't lumens be just an approximation of the
usable light for a reef? I thought the lumen was a measure of
available light only in the spectrum visible to the human eye.

Maybe looking at lumens is the best approximation available of how
useful a particular bulb will be in a reef situation--?



If you decide to buy lights online, check out www.hellolights.com I
got
my Ice Cap from Jeff at www.exoticfish.com (join their free club, the
ballasts

Also, www.ahsupply.com has the best prices I've seen on 10,000K PCs
(55w)- and their service is commendable.

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

lighting ?
 

p.s. all metyal haluides and mercury vapors and high pressure sodiums
from home deopt and lowes are the improper spectrum for good coral
growth, you will need special coral lights, theres almost no way around
this unless you will settle for NO's, then if so, you can go to lowes
and homedepot and but the 10 dollar 4 feet fixtures, then go to the fish
store and buy the bulbs.



wolfhedd



That is the way I plan on going. If I set up a larger tank I will get
the wal-mart lighting and replace the bulbs with the same thing I use
for lighting in my fresh water tanks for live plants.
The bulbs may only be 15 watts, but they produce 8,000 K each. The
16,000 K is more than enough for my healthy plants and should be fine
for some of the low light soft corals.

I think I am going to leave my small tank the way it is without corals.
I like the damsels and rocks just the way they are.

Vicki

lighting ?
 

I just replaced my 7,000K lights on my fresh water tanks to 10,000K deep
reef lighting to see if my plants may do better. And you are right the
colour is more blue. Both my fresh and salt water tanks get plenty of
dappled sunlight so this is something of a test. I realize that plants
and coral are two different things, but both photosynthasize so I am
wondering if the light requirements for both low light planta and low
light coral would be reasonably similar. By the way my plants are doing
great and have surpassed my wildest dreams. And I have been reading up
on low light corals and even some which do not need any light.

Any one else done similar research? Any ideas would be welcome.

Vicki