lighting

farris 21

farris 21

New Member
when people talk about lighting they say about 3 to 4 watts per gallon, I hear that is the going rate( when wanting strong lighting). Well if that is the case do you take the total output of the light or say if you have serval bulbs do you add them together to get the total. I have a 48 gallon tank, i'm wondering do i need one 150 watt bulb and a 50 watt to give 200watts or do i need 2 x 200 watt bulb? I needs some good advice to get it right the 1st time.
 
waterwolf

waterwolf

Member
Its total watts. You could use NO(normal output) lights but you need alot of bulbs(and a wide tank to accomodate this), or you can use VHO bulbs or MH which will use less space but have much higher wattage. Example would be 8 40watt 48" normal output bulbs would give you 320 where 4 VHO 48" bulbs give you 440. See you get a 27% increase in lighting for half the bulbs. Alot of people feel you cannot maintain a reef with normal output lighting but in a shallow tank(less than 22" ht) with 10 bulbs this is possible(I know because I have kept hard corals healthy for 2 years doing this). Deeper tanks require MH and VHO for corals. I have seen the PC lighting and if your going to spend that kind of money go for the VHO lighting. Hope this helps.
 
slick

slick

Active Member
watts per gallon is just a simple easy to use way of measuring lighting. It is so far off that it is not really a guide at all. It was created for new people like yourself to make it easier to understand. That being said. 3-4 wpg is not high lighting at all. Mr personally I have 6.7 wpg and consider this med lighting. The way to figure it out is like this total watts of all you bulbs added up divided by tank size. What lighting you need depends on what you want to keep in the tank. Give me some more info and I'll help you out.
 
gatorcsm

gatorcsm

Member
Just to add to slick's post, the amount of lighting needed will also vary depending on depth. This probably more than anything, since the light has to reach the corals; obviously, the more water to get through, the more 'power' you need...
 
timo

timo

Member
OK...My tank dimensions are 3.0 x 1.0 x 1.35 (sorry, I'm a surveyor and have engineer's tape) deep. 30+/- gallons. I want to keep fish and let's say 25lb LR happy.(15lb's now) Not only would wattage estimets be good, but types. I'd like to stick with flourescents for now.
 
gatorcsm

gatorcsm

Member
You could probably get away with 2 x 36" vhos. 3 would be better. You could probably keep just about anything. Hopefully someone else can give you more info on what you could keep; just my opinion/input.
 
timo

timo

Member
Do these come in a single ballast/reflector combo? Thanks for reply. Standing on the shoulders of those that came before us...
 
waterwolf

waterwolf

Member
single, double or four per ballast. Ask an electrician where to get VHO ballasts, it will save you a ton of money to do it yourself. I hope I was allowed to say that. If not I am sorry.
 
gatorcsm

gatorcsm

Member
I'm an electrician, and I looked everywhere for ballasts that would support VHO's; For some reason, they are extremely hard to come by. The best places I've found are either straight from distributors or a place that sells replacement parts for tanning beds. Don't even bother with home depot or lowes. Home improvement stores don't carry VHO; some will cary UHO (ultra high output) but they just aren't the same power conversion. If yours is anything like mine. They don't have 'em...
 
slick

slick

Active Member
You don't need any special lighting to support live rock. You can just use any light, even the ones made for fw tanks.
 
waterwolf

waterwolf

Member
If you live near Pittsburgh, Scott Electric and Allied both sell VHO ballasts. They have 1, 2, 4 bulb ballasts for different wattages/bulb length. Don't go to a home improvement center because they probally won't have them.
 
saltyshark

saltyshark

Member
Slick is right...If you only plan on keeping a FOWLR then there is no need to buy VHO's. That is money that can be better spent. However if you plan on going reef one day then invest on lighting now.
HTH
SaltyShark
 
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