Coral Or No Coral
- Thread starter buckshott
- Start date
fishieness
Active Member
it would all depend on what lighting you have
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ogdog30
Guest
Well all i have now is softy's (most likly eaiser) good starter corals are zoo's, shrooms and colony polyps.
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ogdog30
Guest
some mushrooms are good for low lighting ( not like real low but you know)
fishieness
Active Member
how low?
theres one guy on here that said he has like green mushrooms in a 55 wtih only 40 watts
theres one guy on here that said he has like green mushrooms in a 55 wtih only 40 watts
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ogdog30
Guest
spssst... dont tell anyone but i keep corals and only have 60 watts in a 65, but wattage dosnt matter lumens and lux does
snipe
Active Member
Watts is kinda of a issue. I know lumans are what grow the corals but watts is what ditermins how deep the light will penitrate the tank. If you only have 60 a 65 you wont be able to place things deep in the tank the lumans wont reach that far. Now say you have 260 watts the lumans will reach farther than with the 60 watts.
fishieness
Active Member
about how mnay watts, lumans, and lux would i need for a tank with a 16 inch depth?
mudplayerx
Active Member
Make sure you write out your entire species list before you make any purchases. Try to get species from the same ocean. The first thing you will need to do is designate your "must have" species.
Once you have made the "must have" choice, you can begin planning around that. This species will have certain light, water, waterflow requirements. Try to choose it's tankmates by selecting species that are comfortable in the same parameters.
If you do this, all will be fine. If you do not do this and you wind up with species from different oceans, or different parts of the reef, some of them may not thrive or grow...or may die.
Once you have made the "must have" choice, you can begin planning around that. This species will have certain light, water, waterflow requirements. Try to choose it's tankmates by selecting species that are comfortable in the same parameters.
If you do this, all will be fine. If you do not do this and you wind up with species from different oceans, or different parts of the reef, some of them may not thrive or grow...or may die.
fishieness
Active Member
well i have an eclipse 29 gallon, so id need to get a whole new top and everything for VHO...plus 300 watts sounds like an awful lot of money. I found a thing that is a kit for an ecplise tank where i could get 130 watts compact florecent. Would this be ok for some corals or maybe an anenome near the top? The tank is 16 inches high....
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ogdog30
Guest
Originally posted by Snipe
Watts is kinda of a issue. I know lumans are what grow the corals but watts is what ditermins how deep the light will penitrate the tank. If you only have 60 a 65 you wont be able to place things deep in the tank the lumans wont reach that far. Now say you have 260 watts the lumans will reach farther than with the 60 watts.
No lux is a measure of how much it will penitrate, watts is how much energy it will use DUH!
reefnut
Active Member
Watts, lumen and lux does not mean squat in this hobby. PAR is the measurement we are concerned with. Watts are somewhat useful only because it's a easy way to communicate lighting amounts... and it's a easy way to separate bulb sizes.
Watt is how much power the bulb consumes.
LUX is a measure of the level of illumination on a surface as WE see it.
Lumens is a measure of light output from a source as WE see it.
PAR is a measure of "usable" light for photosyntheses. This is what grows the corals.
Normal Output lighting is insufficient for a reef tank. You MAY be able to keep some corals a LIVE but they will not flourish and most likely, in time, they will parish.
Do you really think everyone would spend all this money on lighting if it was not needed?? Anyone running NO fluorescents and are "serious" about a reef tank... UPGRADE!!
Watt is how much power the bulb consumes.
LUX is a measure of the level of illumination on a surface as WE see it.
Lumens is a measure of light output from a source as WE see it.
PAR is a measure of "usable" light for photosyntheses. This is what grows the corals.
Normal Output lighting is insufficient for a reef tank. You MAY be able to keep some corals a LIVE but they will not flourish and most likely, in time, they will parish.
Do you really think everyone would spend all this money on lighting if it was not needed?? Anyone running NO fluorescents and are "serious" about a reef tank... UPGRADE!!
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ogdog30
Guest
what do you mean? my corals have spread quite nice! I guess i'm just good cause i B-E-N-D the rules . i have a HUGE GSM and a WSM and a perc so lay off. but a good info post
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ogdog30
Guest
and i have HO lights less wattage more POWER!
reefnut
Active Member
No, I will not "lay off". There is some misleading (and wrong) info here that I'm trying to straighten out.
what do you mean? my corals have spread quite nice!
HO are better than NO. Are they T-5s?? If you re-read my post I am addressing NO lighting... so why would you assume my post was directed at you??
what do you mean? my corals have spread quite nice!
HO are better than NO. Are they T-5s?? If you re-read my post I am addressing NO lighting... so why would you assume my post was directed at you??
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ogdog30
Guest
sorry, didnt know that
snipe
Active Member
HO is a diffrent type of Normal output t-5 it is something they done to the bulb and ballast to make it produce more energy then a reg t-5 NO bulb. If you have T-5 HO then it is better than T-5 NO. I knew the par thing I had heard it before but it is really hard to find out the par on your lights.
reefnut
Active Member
The "T" number of fluorescent bulbs just refers to the diameter of the tube. Most normal output fluorescents are T-8s or T-12s, VHOs are T-12s and HO lamps are T-5s. Simply tells the physical size of the bulb.
Similar to the VHO (Very High Output) the HO (High output) lamps are designed to handle more power and produce more light. Also, the ballasts used are designed to provide more power to the lamps.
The main reason watts is so misleading is 20w of NO, 20w of HO and 20w of VHO all produce a differant amount of light.
Yes, it is near impossible to find PAR readings on bulbs... but looking at things such as lumens and lux is misleading. Just because one bulb has a higher lumen output doesn't mean it's better for the corals that a lower lumen lamp. It ALL depends on how much of the light produced from the bulb falls within the spectrum that can be utilized for photosyntheses.
Similar to the VHO (Very High Output) the HO (High output) lamps are designed to handle more power and produce more light. Also, the ballasts used are designed to provide more power to the lamps.
The main reason watts is so misleading is 20w of NO, 20w of HO and 20w of VHO all produce a differant amount of light.
Yes, it is near impossible to find PAR readings on bulbs... but looking at things such as lumens and lux is misleading. Just because one bulb has a higher lumen output doesn't mean it's better for the corals that a lower lumen lamp. It ALL depends on how much of the light produced from the bulb falls within the spectrum that can be utilized for photosyntheses.