Lighting question

[cliffrouse11bas]

I have a 29 gallon tank with a 65 watt power compact 50/50. Do you compute the watts per gallon actual gallons of water in the tank or by the 29 gallon tank regardless of how much sand and rock you have in there. Also I am considering making a 5.5 gallon mini reef tank. I have a normal florescent light that is 14 watts. Would this be enough to have some corals and do they make a 15 inch 50/50 bulb for that fixture????

 

[attml]

I compute it based on actual size of the tank.

 

[bdhough]

Its actual size of the tank.
Rule of thumb is minimum of 3 watts per gallon for corals.
You need more lighting in your 29 gallon tank.
Your nano might be a little different. I currently have a 12 gallon nano with 2.5 watts per gallon. While you won't be able to do alot of the corals you can manage to do a few. Some mushrooms and yellow and green button polyps. I currently have yellow and green button polpys and they are doing rather well. They are failry new (going on 3 weeks) so im just waiting for them to start spreading but the ones i have look very healthy. The trick is to get your live rock situated so that your corals are directly under the lights. By doing this you have a better chance of making them survive.
Thats is what i've done.

 

[lordofthereef]

if you ask me, the WPG rule is pointless! it all matters about the intensity and spectrum of the light. go check out garf.org for instance, all they use is mainly triton and blue moons on their tanks. as for myself, i now use one 20w actinic, two 20w 50/50's, and one 20w 10,000k on my 29g reef. i am able to keep all kinds of coral in there! hard and soft. i'll post some new pics as soon as i get a chance.
BTW, i just wanted to say whats up to everybody! it's been a while now.

 

[chainsaw5vent]

geeez, lord. i thought i recognized that moniker. have you been out on spec.ops.???

 

[bdhough]

Please do post pics. I'd like to see. Im struggling with the lighting question myself. I know a little about the intensity thing as i described earlier the polyps i have are right under the lights. Didn't think i might be able to keep many corals though.

 

[lordofthereef]

no spec.ops chainsaw. just been busy with work, and my recent big move to my new house! i can't beleive how smoothy that whole mess went! guess i'm just good! working on baby proofing the tanks now! got a baby girl on the way!! due in january!!!

 

[kelly]

LOTR,
Welcome back, and congrats or congrats to be on the new one. The wife and I raised 7, 2 sets of twins, the youngest set will be 19 at the end of the month. The oldest set of twins will be 28 at the end of January.
I am glad to hear that the move went well... how is the xenia growing?

 

[chainsaw5vent]

congrats LOTR on the new girl(incoming) and the new house! we just had baby #6 on 2-11-2 (10 lbs 8 oz DO NOT TRY THAT AT HOME!! no c-section/or epidural MAJOR TROOPER) we were looking to move but it would've been too tough to do at the same time. hopefully, we'll be in our next location by next spring/summer
bty, kelly, I'm NOT going to 7. <girl 16, boys 14,11,8,2,11days> i've got to make the 2nd (real)appt. w/ the "spay and neuter" doc

 

[cliffrouse11bas]

Anybody got any ideas on what would be my best bet for more lighting. Should I just get 2 55 watt power compact retro kit and buy a canopy to place them in? I have no woodworking or electricity skills.

 

[bdhough]

Retro kits work with an existing ballast. The ballast is what holds the light bulbs. SOOOO if you have lights now, you can retrofit it. A dual 55 watt power compact would be great. I think you can get one at ahsupply.com for around 120ish. I think