how many watts?
- Thread starter kathy18
- Start date
benj420
Member
In term of PC lighting, you can roughly use the following:
3-4 watts per gallon - mushrooms, low light corals
5-7 watts per gallon - medium light corals
8-12 watts per gallon - just about anything
This is a rough guide becasue it doesn't factor in tank depth. the deeper the tank, the less light gets to the bottom. A good reef has areas of all types of light from bright to dark. It also doens't factor into a definition of "keep". You can keep just about any coral with 4 watts per gallon, but the higher light loving corals will not flourish.
fishman88, two 55's would give you a lot more versatility. more types of corals and you could stagger when they come on and shut off.
3-4 watts per gallon - mushrooms, low light corals
5-7 watts per gallon - medium light corals
8-12 watts per gallon - just about anything
This is a rough guide becasue it doesn't factor in tank depth. the deeper the tank, the less light gets to the bottom. A good reef has areas of all types of light from bright to dark. It also doens't factor into a definition of "keep". You can keep just about any coral with 4 watts per gallon, but the higher light loving corals will not flourish.
fishman88, two 55's would give you a lot more versatility. more types of corals and you could stagger when they come on and shut off.
jonthefb
Active Member
kathy, 2 55's on a 29 gallon tank is pretty good. i try to tell everyone to shoot for 6-8 watts per gallon, as this is a nice general area that most corals will fall right into. as far as plugging a 65w bubl into a 55 ballast, you can do it. i didi this with my set up which is custom sea life, and they told me the bubls will fire up exactly the same. good stuff
fishman, i would also throw two 55's on there, or two 65's. this is what i am currently running on my 20, 2 65 watt custom sea life bulbs, but will be upgradign with more pc's very soon!
anyhow, good luck all, and enjoy!
jon
fishman, i would also throw two 55's on there, or two 65's. this is what i am currently running on my 20, 2 65 watt custom sea life bulbs, but will be upgradign with more pc's very soon!
anyhow, good luck all, and enjoy!
jon
kathy18
Member
I was looking carefully and I have 65 watts atinic and 55 watts daylight. i know my ballast supports the 65 b/c its been doing it for a few months already. So can i only get low light corals or like jon said its pretty good lighting? right now i have alll types of polyps, 2 kinds of mushrooms, a yellow leather, and 2 branching torch, which are all doing VERY good with rapid growth.(as a matter of fact i just fragged the torch). i also have a....
i just forgot the name, something like a brain which was doing fine but is now dying due to my stupidness, but it was doing good. i also have a cup coral that hasnt opened up since i got it at the LFS 1 week ago but i think thats because it was already dmaged when i got it. so basically all my corals are doing great . so what else can i get?
i just forgot the name, something like a brain which was doing fine but is now dying due to my stupidness, but it was doing good. i also have a cup coral that hasnt opened up since i got it at the LFS 1 week ago but i think thats because it was already dmaged when i got it. so basically all my corals are doing great . so what else can i get?