lighting

[rainedaypard]

i am starting a salt water tank. i am going to be buying a orbit 48 inch 4x96 watts for a reef tank. question how high do you thing the electric bill would go up on that kind of watts. i know stupid question but need to know.

 

[michaeltx]

not much since its basically flourescent lights. the BIG lights like Metal halide are the ones that raise the bill a bit.
I use fourecents PC on all but one of my tanks except the reef and my bill is about the same as it was when I didnt have any tanks,.
Mike

 

[rainedaypard]

can i use flourecent pc on my reef tank

 

[michaeltx]

if I remember right thats what the orbit 48 inch 4x96 watts fixture is its different than what you buy in a regular store though. They are flourescent but the are called Power Compact lighting.
mike

 

[michaeltx]

what size tank is this going on?
Mike

 

[rainedaypard]

75 gallon

 

[michaeltx]

I would honestly look at t-5's or VHO for that size tank. power compacts are great for smaller tanks but loose effectivness the larger the tank.
t-5's are better than VHO though but aliitle more expensive.
mike

 

[renogaw]

i have PC's and wish i had gone with T5's, or knew of a way to change them to t5's or mh's. they arent bad for some corals that require lesser lights, but the colors aren't all that great, and they don't grow as well as they could under better lights. the pc's are great for fowlrs though.