3.5 Watts of light
- Thread starter aceroc
- Start date
mudplayerx
Active Member
You can't use the freshwater equation for lighting to determine lighting for a saltwater tank. You have to know the depth and length of your tank. For instance... if you were going the avenue of metal halide for a 55 gallon tank...you would need 2 bulbs as the tank is 4 feet long, and you would need at least 150watts per bulb (for standard 55 tank dimensions) if you wanted to keep all kinds of corals.
ps- there are many cheaper alternatives in lighting such as VHO and PC lighting, but my knowledge of them is very limited due to having metal halide bulbs myself. Perhaps someone else will chime in.
There are plenty of low-light critters you could put into your current tank. Sponges, gorgonians, feather dusters, sea-cucumbers, shrimp, crabs, etc..
ps- there are many cheaper alternatives in lighting such as VHO and PC lighting, but my knowledge of them is very limited due to having metal halide bulbs myself. Perhaps someone else will chime in.
There are plenty of low-light critters you could put into your current tank. Sponges, gorgonians, feather dusters, sea-cucumbers, shrimp, crabs, etc..
mudplayerx
Active Member
Originally Posted by Aceroc
Can you figure out what i need if i give you the dimentions? I think i might buy another PC at 260watt so i will have 2 PC's which will give me 520watts.
I'm guessing that two 260watt PC bulbs will allow you to get quite a few corals. While you might not be able to get clams and sps, your choice of corals will still be pretty good. You can always place the corals really high up on the rockwork if they need intense lighting.
My personal opinion is save up until you can buy metal halide. It is only about twice as expensive as the other lighting, but is way way better.
Can you figure out what i need if i give you the dimentions? I think i might buy another PC at 260watt so i will have 2 PC's which will give me 520watts.
I'm guessing that two 260watt PC bulbs will allow you to get quite a few corals. While you might not be able to get clams and sps, your choice of corals will still be pretty good. You can always place the corals really high up on the rockwork if they need intense lighting.
My personal opinion is save up until you can buy metal halide. It is only about twice as expensive as the other lighting, but is way way better.
murph145
Active Member
with the lighting u have now u should be able to keep some other softies such as a colt coral some leathers will do fine shrooms like stated and zoo's
LPS are questionable but u could get some sun polyps since they dont need light and lots of other critters like mentioned before...
id save your money instead of getting more PC lights everyone adventually wants MH
i currently have a100G reef set up my new 180comes in on tuesday but i have MH lighting 500W of DE 20K and another 180W of 10K over my tank now and i keep everything from softies to LPS to SPS and clams
believe me save up for the MH u will be happy u can get MH a lot cheaper these days u could probably get a nice retrofit system for your tank and only spend about $500 or so
but most likely u will need a chiller too these run about $500+
LPS are questionable but u could get some sun polyps since they dont need light and lots of other critters like mentioned before...
id save your money instead of getting more PC lights everyone adventually wants MH
i currently have a100G reef set up my new 180comes in on tuesday but i have MH lighting 500W of DE 20K and another 180W of 10K over my tank now and i keep everything from softies to LPS to SPS and clams
believe me save up for the MH u will be happy u can get MH a lot cheaper these days u could probably get a nice retrofit system for your tank and only spend about $500 or so
but most likely u will need a chiller too these run about $500+
murph145
Active Member
well u should be fine for all of the following with the 3.5wpg but the frospawn might not be happy .... u could try it and place it on the top of the rock work like 1/3 the way from the top....
if u had more like 5wpg u should be fine with all those and a lot of other LPS corals...
can u fit the other 260WPG under the canopy and do u think ull have any problems with heat??
if u had more like 5wpg u should be fine with all those and a lot of other LPS corals...
can u fit the other 260WPG under the canopy and do u think ull have any problems with heat??
aceroc
Member
The way i have the one setup has the legs on it and my canopy fits over but barely. I can put another one twords the front of the tank so i will have 2 of them ontop of my tank but then i wouldn't be able to use the lid for the canopy because of heat and i would have to get a fan to mount and have it blowing across the water. Wonder why my LFS said i couldn't keep anythign but mushrooms with 3.5watts per gallon, you would think they would sell me anything to get money.
murph145
Active Member
yeah that is wierd but ideffinately think u should be fine with some softies lps are ?ble right now....
as far as your tank i would build another canopy thats taller so u can mount the PC's to the top and cut in some 3" fan holes then add some computer fans that u get from best buy or something they work great i have 4 3" fans in my canopy that help blow out the hot air i still need a chiller though
as far as your tank i would build another canopy thats taller so u can mount the PC's to the top and cut in some 3" fan holes then add some computer fans that u get from best buy or something they work great i have 4 3" fans in my canopy that help blow out the hot air i still need a chiller though
