2 lights Twice as good as one?!

[beaver]

I have a 65 watt coral life light, with this I have found I can keep most lower light corals. Now If I was to purchace a second 65 watt light, would it be twice as good? Could I keep corals that need more light? I have a 29 gal tank btw. I was talking to the guy at LFS who was going off about watts per gallon... got me confused.. so yeah 2 65s twice as good as one? Like haveing a 130 watt light?

 

[bigtyguyy]

i would think that your your right about 2 lights are better then 1.. It sounds like comment sense but ahhahaha dont mark my words!

 

[speg]

well.. having say 2 50 watt lights is better than 1.. but its not a 100 watt light..
Your LFS owner was probably talking about how as a rule of thumb I believe you want around 5-7 watts of light per gallon of water.. so you have a 10 gallon tank right? You'd want around 50-70 watts of light in that tank (at least) (add total wattage of your lights).
You've got 65 watts in there now... what kinda bulb is it?

 

[beaver]

Its a 50/50 coral life bulb, 10,000k white and 03 blue. I belive that is what the box said.

 

[dmc888]

I'm guessing thats pc compact flourescent.
You can have two lights as long as you have the room.
Might be a pain to lift one to open the hood.

 

[beaver]

Its a 24 inch corlight fixture, 65 watt, with a 50 white/50 blue bulb. So in a 29 gal tank adding one more light just like it would make it better but not like haveing 130 watts per galon like haveing a 130 watt light? I want some hard corals some day, I know they need the most light. Im not to worried about the lid part. Im going to build a glass or acrylic top for it and just set the lights above it. Ill proly try and attach them so I can just open the top with out haveing to move anything.

 

[dmc888]

I did reply they had a 130w 30 or 24 inch all in one light earlier. Just an option.
As for the top, they sell glass tops in a set with glass, hinges,plastic trim for the rear,and handle.
I think i got mine at petsmart, or maybe *****.
They make plastic legs for the coralife also.
On my 29 i can tell a big difference when i have one bulb and two bulbs on.
I have a condy anemone in my 29. Thats about it. I like corals but i don't have the time.
It would be better for the corals or anemonies to be high up closer to the light. So lots of lr would help.
Pc lighting looses strength the farther it goes, so the best lighting would be close to the top.
Thats why people go with MH. You can keep anything. But thats more expensive and gets pretty hot.

 

[larrynews]

that was my queation about a year ago, i asked is 96 1watt lights the same as 1x96w and bang guy said alot is the lenght of the bulb...i looked for it but i couldn't find it.

 

[beaver]

Now im thinking of getting one MH light and use it in conjunction with my 65 watt light. Like put the MH in the corrner and put the High light corals over under it. Would work out since my 65 watt is not the full lingth of my tank any how. That will be an eye sore though lol. Im gona have to check out pet co and see what they have for covers and lids. Idealy I would like to just add a 65 watt and have it be 130 watt total lol. Though I dont think it works that way, sort of too good to be true lol.

 

[beaver]

will this work?
http://www.futuregarden.com/cgi-bin/shop/30-3105.html

 

[wanabesalt]

hi soon as i set up my sixty gallon i was going to run 4- 65 watt power compacts that whould give me about 4 watts per gallon ...but 6 to 7 watts per gallon whould be the best...........right now i have a 29 gallon with 2 -65 watt power compacts and it is still cycleing so we will have to see ........but the fish store said thats enough ............on my 20 gallon long i have only 1-65 watt and it works very well

 

[beaver]

You have a 65 over a 20 gal? do you have corlas in there? what type? Perhaps I will go with another 65 watt like I have now, it would look better then puting a jumble of different lights up there. I supose all I can do is try it out. I payed 60 bucks for the light I have now, it seems I didnt get a very good deal lol. It was marked 120$ so I felt I had to buy it when I saw the sale price lol. I proly could have got a higher wattage light for that price If I had known what I was after. LFS said the same thing to me, just add more lights and it will be fine, they had a 55 with "the same light" as the one I purchased from them, filled with corals. I think they had about 6 of "the same light" though hehe. Ill give it a shot. I whent to a big pet store the other day and saw some of the MH lights in there and its realy cool how it looks like real sun light shineing done in the water. Ill have to just go with what I can aford though. Check that link, dose that look like a good light for my tank or what?

 

[wanabesalt]

i was told on this site that 2-65 watt power compacts whould be great for a 29 gallon
the first picture is a brain coral under 1- 65 watt 10,000 k /actinic 03 about 8 inch,s away from the light could you imagin it being under 2 -65 watt........at 20 gallon long that whould give me 6 watts per gallon plus a little more. .........that 400 watt light whould grow any thing i think it a little to much for your tank it whould be nice on a 50 to 60 gallon tank............ but get a second opinion on that 400 watt on a 29 gallon

 

[wanabesalt]

i will post better pics tommorow they were my first ones just trying out the cam

 

[beaver]

Nice looking corals you have there.. I like the brains, My rocks are all low mid lvl right now. I have about 16-17 pounds of LR and proly 10 or so base rock. Still wish I had some more to stack up Higher.
Yeah the 400 watt light seems like it mite be too bright for a little tank.. could it sunburn my fish? or hurt some of the lower light corals? I was thinking of haveing it on a timer so it would come on like 2-3 hours a day. The rest of the time I would have just the 65 watt on. Like 65 watt on in the morning for a few hours then MH light for mid day then back to the 65 in the afternoon. Moon lights at night. (im bulding some moon lights with blue LEDs I got) I think thats a good price for a 400 watt MH light though... could use it in a biger tank some day hehe. :hilarious

 

[wanabesalt]

i have 3 of the moon light led looks good at night each one has 3 led lights in it
same here i need more live rock to build up the back of the tank......i still havent found any good deal,s on another 65 watt.......10,000 k /actinic 03

 

[wanabesalt]

the 400 hundred watt will get very hot might make the water temp go up to high.......i whouldnt have it to close to the water even for 2 to 3 hours........oyea if you have any purple rock scrape it a little to seed the other live rocks that dont have purple on them when you srape the rock the spores will seed the other rocks.

 

[beaver]

Where are you at in CA? there was An LFS in a town called Hanford (30 mins form fresno) that had a sale going on thats where I picked mine up. I should have just gone shopping online. Im an instant gratifacation kinda guy when it comes to shoping. Waiting for ups to bring me my box that they smashed is realy hard for me lol. I was cheking out a fish store called Whiteys the other day they had cheeper stuff then most LFS. Kind of a big store. Think rite-aid size. Ill for shure check them out if I hear they are haveing a sale. I havent even been to Pet co or anything like that since I changed over to salt water. I supose they cant mess up pre packaged lights though lol.

 

[wanabesalt]

i am near the chargers stadium mission valley

 

[wanabesalt]

a new fish store opened up a month a go selling fiji live rock for 3.50 a pound .....and mando live rock for 5.99 a pound my last pick of that baseball size neon green payed 20 dollers there at the new store.