Are my lights suitable for a reef tank

greymach

greymach

Member
Hey i have 1 URI Super Actinic/VHO-1 28CET275
And 2 URI Actinic White/ VHO-1 15CET275
The super actinic shines Purple and the other two shine white light. I am new seting up a tank that my parents set up in the past and it failed very early. I do not know much about anything lol but i was hoping to get some feedback. I also dont have a protien skimmer but a canister filter and two power heads. Is there anyway for anenome and corol to survive w/o protien skimmer?
 
greymach

greymach

Member
HI, the only other number on all the bulbs is the same. FR30T12. I dont know if that is the wattage. What would that number look like? The tank is 55 gallons.
The tank was origionally set up as a reef tank by our LFS but the whole thing failed and i dont know anything about this stuff so i am just asking on here. Thanks.
 
greymach

greymach

Member
I have 2 of these in the 36" which is 30 watts.
http://www.**************.com/Produc...030+2146962504
I also have another URI light of the same size but it shines purple. It says Super Actinic on the bulb but i cant find it online. I would guess it is 30 watts also? Thanks for any help and if someone could tell me about my lights it would be great thanks
I dont know what any of this means "MH, T5, PC or some home made one"
 
fanker

fanker

Active Member
o so u just have NO (normal output) floresants, that is not somthing that will keep a reef,
mh=metal halide the best reef lighting u can get but high wattage and very intence
pc=power compacts, they are floresant tubes bent in halfand overdriven
t-5s= imo the second best lighting u can get they are an overdriven floresant that gives off tons of light and like mh good for all corals
 
greymach

greymach

Member
Could someone lead me in the right direction for some T5 flourescent bulbs in 36" that could use the same fixtures as my current ones. Thanks for the all the help.
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by GreyMach
HI, the only other number on all the bulbs is the same. FR30T12. I dont know if that is the wattage. What would that number look like? The tank is 55 gallons.
The tank was origionally set up as a reef tank by our LFS but the whole thing failed and i dont know anything about this stuff so i am just asking on here. Thanks.
Which type of 55 gallon tank do you have???? The most common one is 48" in length, since you bought a 36" fixture, I start to wonder..... :happyfish
 
greymach

greymach

Member
Hi, i just measured my tank it is 36" long 15" wide and 22" tall. This is a 55 gal right?
I also just checked my bulbs end caps and found the two white ones have green end caps. The blue one has gold end caps. I checked which bulbs they are and they are these...
The White lights with green end caps http://www.**************.com/Produc...1&N=2004&Nty=1
And the purple light with the gold end caps:
http://www.**************.com/Produc...1&N=2004&Nty=1
Are these lights suitable for a reef tank. The description says this about the white ones: "Blend of tri-band phosphors provides the additional color temperature needed for your mini-reef system and is great for deep tanks or shallow water corals."
 
greymach

greymach

Member
This is my lighting fixture. The white lights on the outsides and the purple/blue in the middle.
The one with the tape measure has the other end on the other end of the fixture. it is 36 inches from end to end.



 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
VHO are "Very High Output".
Better than NO, but not enough for anemones. Some low light corals like mushrooms might be ok, but I'm not a lighting expert. Keep asking.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
thats 285watts of VHO lighting. you can keep all softies, LPS, bubble tip anenome's. basically anything but most SPS, clams and anenome's that require strong lighting. That is definately adequate and set up for reef duty.
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Stanlalee
thats 285watts of VHO lighting. you can keep all softies, LPS, bubble tip anenome's. basically anything but most SPS, clams and anenome's that require strong lighting. That is definately adequate and set up for reef duty.
Again, I'm not a lighting expert, but from my own tank with VHO's I disagree.
On my 180 I run 4 36' VHO's and 2 72' VHO's. Those babies are nothing once the HQI halides kick on.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Again, I'm not a lighting expert, but from my own tank with VHO's I disagree.
On my 180 I run 4 36' VHO's and 2 72' VHO's. Those babies are nothing once the HQI halides kick on.
While 700 watts of VHO sounds like alot on your tank thats only a weak 3.8 watts per gallon on a tank thats deeper and wider than any 55 gallon. and if any of those are actinics its not suprising they dont look bright on a 180g. His lighting on the other hand equates to 5.1 watts per gallon assuming he even has 55 gallons and with his tank being narrower and not as deep his watts per gallon means more than your watts per gallon.
On top of that VHO lighting is at least as good as pc lighting watt per watt (many would argue they give better results). you have people left and right keeping everything I mentioned except perhaps the bubble tip with 260w of pc lighting on 55 gallons. His is slightly taller than a standard 55 gallon, then again he has slightly more watts and slightly better lighting than those using typical 260w pc fixtures on their 55 gallons.
 
greymach

greymach

Member
Alright Cool! So what is LPS and SPS stand for? You said i can keep almost anything but most SPS. Sorry i just dont know the abbreviations. Thanks for all the help everybody!
 
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