Flourescent Lighting

[trippclark]

Okay, I am confused about lighting. I have a 55 Gal tank with live rock, sand, 3 fish, coral banded shrimp, and a cleanup crew (hermits, snails, and 2 brittle stars). I would like to introduce some anemones and coral, but I am concerned that my lighting may not be adequate. I have flourescent lighting. I have a Coralife Wizard that pushes two 48" tubes. These tubes are at least 2 years old, so I am expecting that they probably are not performing optimally (spectrum shift), so I am looking to replace them. Are there any flourescent bulbs available that would provide adequate lighting for carefully selected anemones and corals? Which bulbs? The catalog I am looking at is very confusing. Coralife, for example, in the "saltwater lamps" category offers 6 different bulbs, and to read the description it is not clear which is best for my use. They list Magtinic 7,100K, Trichromatic 6,500K, High Intensity 20,000K, Actinic 7,100K, 50/50 6000K & 7100K, and High Intensity 10,000K. They also have similar selections from URI, Zoo Med, Aquarium Products, and Aqua Rays by GE. Will two bulbs even be enough, or will I need 4? Or is flourescent just totally inadequate?

 

[bang guy]

I strongly suggest you avoid getting an anemone. They are not nearly as easy to care for as it would appear.
If you don't want to be limited in your livestock selection for coral then HID lighting is the way to go. Take a look at some of the Metal Halide setups for your tank. If you must have an Anemone then this is the right direction. Look for a tank propogates Bubble-Tip or Rose Anemone.
Two 40 watt flourescent bulbs will only support a few types of mushrooms and non-photosynthetic corals (read - difficult to care for).
If you go with 4 VHO flourescents you'll be able to keep quite a large selection of corals but not everything.

 

[trippclark]

OK -- so if I go with 4 flourescents (Metal Halide just scares me to death), which of the confusing choices is best? To read the descriptions, they all are great, but if that is the case why would the same company offer so many different bulbs? I think that the bulbs that I have are the Coralife 50/50.
Oh, and my reason for wanting an anemone is for my clown. It is not a MUST though.

 

[bang guy]

Do you have NO (Normal Output) or VHO (Very High Output)?
I'm kind of a URI bigot myself. I prefer them many times over CoraLife.

 

[trippclark]

I am not certain, but I always thought VHO. The Coralife Wizard Ballast says 120v 60Hz for 2 T-12 lamps, does that help?

 

[bang guy]

Nope. What do the bulbs say? VHO would be 110 watt and NO would be 40 watt.

 

[trippclark]

OK!! These are 40W, so they are NO. I see VHO bulbs available from URI, but I wonder if my Wizard ballast will push them? I am guessing that it cannot . . . bummer. So I guess that 4 NO bulbs would be a little less lighting than 2 VHO bulbs.
Reading elsewhere, I see a recommendation of 3 - 5 watts of lighting per gallon for reef lighting, so for my 55 gal, I need a total of 165 - 275 watts total. Does that sound right?? That would make my present 80 watts woefully inadequate, and doubling it with 2 more NO bulbs would still put me at the very bottom of the scale (or just below).

 

[bang guy]

3 - 5 watts is the bottom tier for reef lighting. You will need to be very very choosy about what corals you attempt. Placement becomes very important too. Unfortunately many of the best low light corals like to be on the sand bed.
This hobby is expensive but if you're careful you can have a beautiful low-light reef of mushrooms, Ricordea, and select LPS corals.

 

[beaslbob]

just kinda wondering here. And was desigin my own diy hood. It appears there is enough space to place 6 NOs over a 55g. 6*40=240 watts. would that be enough? Sure a lot cheaper than other options.

 

[bang guy]

It's not free but if you buy an IceCap 660 ballast it will overdrive your NO bulbs and put out just about double the light.
Just an option.

 

[trippclark]

Here is what I am leaning towards now . . .
Scrap the Coralife Wizard. Maybe use it later in a fish only tank or sell it.
Purchase a Coralife 4 lamp VHO ballast kit (pre-wired and complete with end caps . . . hard wiring the IceCap ballasts is something that I don't feel comfortable with) for $260, four 48" URI Actinic White 110W bulbs @ $28 ea, and a reflector to accomodate the additional bulbs. This will give me 8 watts per gallon.
Will I have heat issues to deal with by going from two 40W bulbs to four 110's? I do not have any type of cooling fans in the hood.

 

[trippclark]

I have two 48s in there now with end caps; but it was a tight fit! I have never seen 46.5" available. Where did you find these??