Good Lighting for reef

[plum70rt]

What is a good general light setup,I have ice cap ballast 440watt VHO lighting, 2 white 2 blue, on a 210 gallon, is this sufficent for some live rock and some soft corals?

 

[olsenjb]

Unfortunately, that isn't much lighting for a tank that size. You may be able to get by with a few mushrooms, but I don't think I would try any other corals until you get more intense lighting.

 

[lnarobbins]

with the lights you have, your looking at about 2 watts per gallon
you jneed at least 5 watts or more per gallon, from what I understand, on my 90g tank I have 300watts, and I am planning to put more on when I get the extra $$$
what you have is a good start
imo, throw the live rock in, and some fish and get the show on the road you can always upgrade as you go
jmo
Alan

 

[pa reef pig]

The VHO should be good to use for actinics and then get 2 or 3 Metal Halides 250-400 watts each. Id go for the 10,000k or 12,000k spectrum bulbs (They are a little more blue). Make sure the bulbs are at least 10-12" above the water surface for heat dissipation (a fan helps), they get hot.
This kind of lighting sould allow you to keep a wide variety of corals from sps to soft. good luck.

 

[pa reef pig]

But if you only want soft coral, you might be able to get away with vho only. just keep packing them into the hood, as many as you can fit, until you run out of room. trust me, eventually you will want to keep something that requires lots of light and you will wish you had done it right the first time.
Im learning that lesson now for myself!

 

[adrian]

What are the dimensions of your tank, the height of the tank and the placement of coral has a lot more to do with lighting than how many watts a lighting system uses to operate compared to the overall volume of the tank. What kind of corals you plan to keep also plays a key role in a lighting set up. Unless your tank is really high, 30", then you should be able to keep softies and some live rock with 4 VHOs, the live rock will be no problem as you get better coralline growth with dimmer lighting, the corals you will have to experiment with, some will require more light than others, but as long as you stick to softies, mushrooms, zooanthids, LPS, ect, you should be fine. Of course the as PA mentioned you will have a wider variety of corals to choose from if you throw some halides into the equation, 175s would be fine for what your looking to keep, 250s or 400s would allow you to keep most anything, and may actually limit you somewhat to high light corals. HTH

 

[usajet]

just checking sorry

 

[plum70rt]

My Tank is a bow front, 62 wide 25 high, about 30 inchs front to back,

 

[bang guy]

I agree completely with Adrian. If you put some thought into placement there are a lot of corals you can keep, including softies. Higher light demanding species will need to be directly under your bulbs and high up in the water.

 

[bang guy]

I just found a good example. This coral was a frag from a fellow hobbiest. The following 5 shots show its growth over the past 8 months under lighting very similar to what you are proposing (all VHO). It is high up on top of the reef and directly under the bulbs. Sorry about the Actinic shot... what was I thinking enjoy!

 

[rockster]

WOW, I am sooo impressed with the growth of the bubble algae (Just kidding). Seriously, that is an impressive chronicle of that coral's growth. I likes.

 

[plum70rt]

Thanks to all for your input, here is what I have so far,
a leather coral he is about 12 to 14 inches below the serface,
the green carpet anemone is alittle deeper but thats where he went

 

[plum70rt]

pic 2

 

[plum70rt]

pic 3

 

[plum70rt]

Hey I was just checking my VHO bulbs, I have 60inch which are 140watt,X 4, which is 560 watts total,Is this a little better shape?

 

[josh]

Hello,
Well yes you 560 watts is better, still you are looking at low light demanding animals. Just start slowly and make sure you have great water quality. I am sure some polyps would be ok in the tank, maybe some GSP. Although once they get established they spred like wild fires!
Just another point on lighting. While watts does play a role in lighting, you are generally more concerned about intensity. Example, put a 75 watt halgen light against a 55 watt pc, no camparison. For this reason many folks, myself included, have made the switch over to MH for high light demanding creatures. The intensity is just so much greater than any other lamp on the market now. So I guess to sum it up, you want the most watts but you want high intenstiy output for each watt.
HTH - don't worry if you dont' get it yet, it took me a long time to wrap my brain around lighing, MH espicially.
Josh

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by josh
Example, put a 75 watt halgen light against a 55 watt pc, no camparison.
I know Josh meant Halide and just had a typo. I'm only mentioning it in case someone new thinks Halogen is better than PC. Don't use Halogen unless you're using it to heat your water.

 

[anthony812]

I THINK WITH A TANK THAT BIG YOU SHOULD GO WITH METAL HALIDE SERIOUSLY I MEAN I'M NOT TALMKING SMACK ABOUT VHOS BUT IT WOULD COST ALOT TO REPLACE VHO BULBS EVERY YEAR FOR A TANK THAT BIG JUST GO WITH 2-3 METAL HALIDE. IF YOU REALLY WANT EXPLOSIVE GROWTH YOU SHOULD GO WITH LETS SAY 2 250 WATTERS AND 1 400 WATT OR YOU COULD GO WITH ALL 400 WATTS BUT THE HEAT AND ELECTRIC BILL WOULD BE CRAZY. YOU CAN ALSO ADD VHOS TOO ACTINIC ACTINNIC WHITES WATEVER BUT IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GO WITH VHOS A ICE CAP 440 AINT GONNA BE ENOUGH FOR A 210 GALLON I THINK YOU NEED 2 660? CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG

 

[plum70rt]

Thanks , well I have 560 watts,4 140s,VHO 2 blue 2 white
for what I like to keep, soft corals and mushrooms, Ive been told im ok, If i go to metal halide I will have to run a chiller wont I? Since my tank is now 15 days old I will wait and let it flourish for a while, Thanks to all for the input again,