lighting?

[southcoral]

I was wondering, if you buy the strongest lighting, will it be ok for all corals? It won't be too strong? How strong is this lighting? And i heard that moonlight lighting will help corals and fish to spawn, is this true? And how do you set up reg. and moon lighting? Like for a 55g?
How do you tell the difference between a female perc and a male perc?
~*thanks so much, love ya*~

 

[moray345]

MH is the highest and yes you can keep anywhere from shrooms to acros! you can buy moonlights at your lfs and but them around your tank and it does increase the chances of spawning clownfish are male by birth and can turn into female if you get a pair get one that is bigger than the other so that they will turn male and female!
HTH,
Moray345

 

[southcoral]

OH WOW! Is that true?? that is so wierd (talk about being confused...lol) I think i'll do that, have little clownfish baby..how cute.
Now how do you set up moonlights? And what is MH?
~*thanks, love ya*~

 

[snipe]

MH Stands for Metal Halide and if you look on a popular bidding site you can get moonlight sets premaid for around $45 shipped all you do is put on top of tank and plug in.

 

[southcoral]

sorry for the ignorance, i can be a bit blonde sometimes, but let me understand this. Now on a 55g tank the top has two light places, do you put the moonlight on that?? Or do you buy four different lights to swap them around? And...do you leave the moonlights on all night?
~*thanks so much, love ya*~ :cheer:

 

[vlondi]

MH lighting is very expensive and takes a bit more to maintain than most other lighting.
If you have a canopy you can just set up a metal halide retro kit inside of it; the kits cost around $150-250. This may be a really bad estimate. You need a special ballast for MH ($150), the bulbs themselves (2 250s for a 55 gallon, $45 each), and anything else that is needed which I cannot think of.
Like I said, there are retro kits that have everything you need to set up inside of a canopy. If you don't have a canopy getting a hood for MH can be upwards of $500-900.
If you don't mind being kinda restricted on lighting, just go with a power compact (PC) for now. You can keep many corals and most anything else you need with this lighting. It is much, much cheaper and covers most of what you need.
I was going to go MH until I looked into pricing more. PC is for me, at least until I get really situated into the hobby and want far grander, challenging things.
Moonlights I am not very familiar with; if you go to the DIY forum you can see how to make moonlights for under $5. I believe that you do leave them on all night or put it on some kind of "realistic" cycle. Dunno, don't take my words for it.

 

[jacknjill]

for clownfish, you can either buy them as a mated pair, or buy one, wait a little while, and then by a smaller one later on. that will guve the first one a chance to turn female and the new one will turn male. i should warn you though, its hard to keep the babies alive

 

[southcoral]

thanks, i'll think i buy the PC lighting, thanks for the tip. And will just forget about breeding the fish, i've tried that before, it was a lot of hassle. But i will buy a pair, since they like to live in pairs.
thanx

 

[snipe]

The thing is with pc or vho you wont be able to keep a clam or some anemones "very long live spand shortens under these lights" And you wont be able to keep hard or stony corals.

 

[southcoral]

oh, hmm...so the only option is to buy the really expensive lighting to buy anemones, some corals, and clams?

 

[snipe]

Well you can have soft corals with pc you can have anemones with them "they just wont live as long even with suppliment" and the clam wont do under pc at all. That is why I changed my mind I am just gonna kick out the extra and get Mh you can get them off a well know auction site for around $250 to $300

 

[southcoral]

i'll guess i'll end up doing the same...but it won't be for a while any how. I won't be getting corals and anemomes for a year or so, so i'll just save my money til then. Thanks for your information, it really helped me, i would have just bought reg. lighting and said "what's wrong??" thanks!

 

[snipe]

I would have to until I got all kinds of info on it but im like I have 6 months to go so I will be able to get it later I am happy with my 50/50 normal ouputs for now.

 

[scubadoo]

Southcoarl...there is a business on ---- that sells the moon lights but they are housed inside a finished wood strip pine or oak and fiinished to your preference. They are only about 1 1/2" square and 48" long. The moonlights can be left on 24/7. THe stip is so narrow there is no problem placing it behind or in front of your main tank lights.

 

[snipe]

That is what I saw that is really good price on thoughs but I am gonna buy a diy one just cuase I get bored so I have something to do.

 

[scubadoo]

I'd do the same Snipe...but this time of year I log long hours at work. I do not have corals but I am thinking of getting one of those strips for my fish.

 

[snipe]

I understand this time of year is the oppasite I have hardley any work this time of year and later "after everyone gets there tax return" I will be swamped.

 

[vlondi]

Extending the topic a little, does anyone here use hanging MH lighting? They seem to be much more affordable and have the wattages needed (I'm looking at a 250 Watt MH hanging light now for my 55 gallon). If I had it hung just right, I think I could have a 65 W PC (actinic or reg) on the tank as well to bump me up to around 6 watt/gallon which I hope is enough for most corals/anenomes.
Does this seem reasonable? Or should I attempt at making a canopy and then putting a MH retro kit inside that?

 

[snipe]

Alot of ppl use hanging lighting but then you have to worrie about fish jumping out of the tank. "alot of saltwater fish are prone to jump when frightend"

 

[vlondi]

Can't I put glass panes on top of the tank? I would think the light could pass right through clear glass and still be effective...
If it seems like it would be a big problem I found out that a friend has the tools and know-how to build things so we may set out one day and build a canopy. But that requires work...