Easy Questions

[andymi]

I searched the board and noticed some people say that I need approximately 3-5 watts of light for a reef tank. I have a 70 gallon with a compact light. I called the store and they said it was 108 watt. It has the blue and white lights for the tank and lights up almost my entire living room. Is this sufficient? Going by the 3-5 watts I would need another to cover the top also. This light is made by Macro in case you have ever heard of it. It is around 35-38" long which goes across the entire top of the tank.
My other question is this. I dont have any glass tops to the tank. I do however have a nice Oak lid that covers the top of the tank. Should I get the glass covers for the top of the tank, or do you think the Oak cover will do just fine?
Thanks,
Andy

 

[sonny]

Your question cannot be answered without knowing what you want to keep. If you want to keep clams and SPS corals, then your light will not even scratch the surface of what those animals need. If you only want to keep fish, then it is plenty. The watts per gallon rule is really not useful anyway. Figure out what you want to keep, then taylor your lighting for the animals you want to keep. The amount of light is dependent on the depth of the tank and the distance of the animal from the light source. Metal Halide lighting is the gold standard for reef tanks.
Sonny

 

[fender]

The glass tops help with evaporation, I have a 90 and was losing bout 3/4 a gallon a day. I added the tops to keep my snowflake eel in and evap is now about 1/4g. The decrease in evap was a bonus. I liked it better without the tops tho....
I am saving up for better lights myself.
I plan on getting Metal Halides.

 

[andymi]

I guess I will need to run across that as I see something I like and determine what type of light is needed. Essentially I am not looking to have a lot of fish, just a few. Mostly I am looking to keep it more reef. I will research and ask that question again when I see something in a few weeks that I want to add.
I was originally told not to put the glass top on the tank since you dont want the light to be inhibited by anything. I see evaporation as an issue to. I dont think I have seen a drastic loss in water as of yet, but I will keep an eye on it.
Is there a good site that lists how much lighting is needed for certain reef inhabitants? A rule of thumb , or is it just asking someone who has one already? The book I bought didnt touch a whole lot on the lighting requirements that I remember. I bought a book named Salt Water Aquarium Handbook, and another book by Tullock, but it seems it is a few years old and I have not had a chance to look through it yet. I have some time, just trying to plan what I want now, so that in a month or two I can save money for what I need.
I already have over $1000 into the tank and equipment for a 70 gallon. Is this high, low, or average. Check my site at http://www.xecko.com/saltwater/setup.htm for a list of what I have.
Thanks.
Andy

 

[total]

You say you have compact lights. How many total bulbs do you have? With my compacts I have 4 bulbs total, 2 on the left and 2 on the right. Now each side only has one bulb that plugs in but that one bulb has two tubs. One white and one blue. Each tube is 55 watts totaling 220 watts for all 4 tubs.
I have a 55 gal so thats about 4 watts per gallon. Thats how you rate compact lights
And for the glass cover, Put one side on and keep one side off. Look to see if you can see a white color difference on the sand. You want the brighter of the two. Yes you will loose more water without the cover, but the brighter color is worth it. Good luck
TTFN

 

[andymi]

My light is the same way. On one side it has one blue and one white light, and the same with the other side. For a total of 2 blue bulbs and 2 white bulbs. It is extremely bright. I have a pretty large living room and it can light it all with this one light. I could not imagine having two of those in there. I would need sunglasses to sit in the living room. I need to find more info on these lights. I am not sure the guy at the LFS really knows what he sold me. I think it is the same thing as yours, it was $200+ dollars. Anyhow thanks for the help.
--Andy

 

[total]

Are the bulbs made by Coral Life? If so on the side of the BULB package it will say 50/50 on it, if so then you have 220 total watts. 55 watts per tube not bulb but tube.
TTFN