I Too Have A 55 Gal & Have A Lighting Quest?

[jessicarabit]

I Currently have 2 double fluorescent 24"/T-12/20-watt hoods. 1 of the hoods contains a Coralife 50/50 & a Coralife 10,000°K. This hood is directly over my Ricordia Mushroom. The other hood contains the original bulbs & I want to replace them after I figure out if the the 1st hood set up is appropriate for having mushrooms??? I also would like recommendations on other types of coral I may possible be fortunate with??? I have running all the time, but mostly for night viewing, in the front where the lids used to be 2 15" BLACK fluorescents. Is this ok??? I heard that the coral reefs of the world are being 'bleached' by the suns UV lights escaping into our atmosphere, so I didn't know if this was equal to that.
Lastly, my mushroom expands (really big) & the shrinks (really small). This happens over a period of the whole day & I wanted to know if this is normal? It has grown since I 1st got it a month ago & has 2 'points'/peeks. I think its has doubled or is 2 in 1 base. How do you say this (technically )??? Also, if my having the 2 UV lights there & running 24 hrs isn't a good thing. Would I be better off with putting back the full spectrum bulbs back???

 

[jonthefb]

jessica, there really isnt much you cna do with your current lighting set-up. it shoudl work great for mushrooms, and possibly some leathers, but they will need to be placed closer to the light source. i would maybe look at gettign a while different lighting setup with power compacts, vhos' or possibly even metal halides. if you upgrade your lighting, you will be able to keep a much wider variety of animals, and will be better able to care for the ones you have right now.
as for the lights, am i correct in thinking that you have two black lights???? set up over the tank? do you know for sure if it is a true black light? if so i would strongly reccommend not using htese anymore and using actinic (a blue light) instead. i think that you might actually have these actinic bulbs, but just checking.
as for the shrooms, they expand and contract like this normally thorughout the day. it is nothign to worry about. i have several differnt types of ricordea and shrooms in my tank and they all do this.
welcome to the hobby and good luck
jon

 

[starfishjackedme]

I have four 110watt VHO's over my 55gal, and it looks great. I don't like PC's personally, but they are worth considering. I can keep just about any coral in my tank besides clams (which I have not tried). I use NO bulbs to simulate dusk/dawn periods. Mostly what I keep are soft corals, I keep the acro and other hard corals in my 200 that has MH.

 

[jessicarabit]

They are actual UV lights, the kind you can get at any hardware store. They are only to see the shrooms glow in the dark (so cool). Are those 2 lights I mentions appropriate mix anyway??? The actinic & the 50/50....What is the difference in vho & fluorescent??? Do the pins look the same??? I really don't want a 'coral' tank, seeing that I do have more fish & plan on more. I just think that the shrooms cover, grow, & look so good on the LR. It's pretty plain w/o anything. I have two smaller hoods (18") that hold the UV bulbs. I do have the full spectrum bulbs that I got, but took out so as I can see the shrooms at night. I should put them back??? Oh, & my shroom is pretty high up there...at least towards the middle of the tank. Any particular kinds of shrooms & leathers I can still get??? Thanks

 

[alti]

i used those blacklights when i first started. they caused a horrible algea explosion. if you start having algea problems i would point the finger at the black lights before you blame anything else.

 

[memnoch]

VHO=Very High Output flourescents. You probably have NO=Normal Output flourescents. You can have shrooms under normal output but long-term survival is not guaranteed. I would recommend spending the necessary cash on some low watt VHO bulbs if you intend this to be basically fish, mushroom, and leather tank. I would recommend no less than 2-3 watts per gallon of VHO light. Your shrooms will do well under this settup and it will be relatively low cost. Your shrooms will also glow under actinic blue light. I may be mistaken but I don't think that the black lights provide the correct spectrum of light for coral growth. This may be why your shrooms seem to swell during daylight hours. They may be trying to increase surface area to harness more light. Just a thought.
But, if you think you will ever venture into other types of coral such as SPS or LPS you might as well purchase metal halide lighting now and save yourself some cash in the long term.

 

[iceburger]

The strong UV rays of a true blacklight can acually kill off some good bacteria, pretty much a weaker version of a UV sterilizer...