Newbie lighting question.

[shannonoss]

Hi everyone,
I have a stupid question, my friend helped me set my reef tank up about 6 months ago. I have been taking my time adding to it and currently as far as coral only have some button polyps, a BTA and a small lonely mushroom. All corals have been in at least a month and look great, the polyps have been in three months and are thriving. It is a 55 gal. and I bought my friends lighting that she had on her 65 gal. because she was upgrading. But frankly I don't know exactly what kind of lighting I have, since I never saw the box and am very confused. I know you can always upgrade, but now that I am starting to add more corals, I need to know exactly what I have so I know my limits.
I have a Coralife Aqualight hood (I am guessing from pictures I have found online) with four separate bulbs in it, but each bulb actually consists of two tubes if that makes sense. Two of these bulbs (a total of four tubes) are Actinic 65 watt and two bulbs (four tubes) are 10,000 K 65 watt. I can't find any pictures that look like exactly what I have and it is starting to get frustrating because I am so confused. Help!!!!

:help:

 

[hedonic]

What you have is decent lighting. They are called power compact flourescent bulbs. They are a step above Normal output and High output bulbs but not, generally (dont beat me up over this) as good as Very High Output (VHO) or Metal Halide (MH) it comes down to lumen output, not wattage. Although, generally, as wattaage increases, lumens increase (again I stress generally). What you have is lighting suffcient to do many soft coral, espcially polyps and mushrooms. With time, adequate skimming, and water movement you could try some hardy large polyp stony corals (Hammer, frog spawn, some plate corals, open brains, etc...). But stay away from most clams and Small Polyp Stony corals. Was there anything else specific about the lgihts you wanted to know?

 

[shannonoss]

That sets me in the right direction. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! Eventually I do want to upgrade, but if it will work for the short term that is awesome. This whole lighting thing is really the only part I just can't get my mind around.

 

[jdragunas]

make sure you keep an eye on your BTA. I've heard some success stories with PC lighting, but generally, BTA's require VHO or MH lighting. Good Luck!!!

 

[kdfrosty]

Yup, but luckily BTAs are one anemone that requires less intense light than the others. IMO you should be alright, especially if it was in there and thriving before the lighting upgrade.

 

[shannonoss]

Thanks for the info on the BTA. He moved around quite a bit when I first got him about 2 months ago, but has settled down now and has been in the same spot for weeks. He appears healthy and eats well. How do you know if they are not doing well other than moving around alot?

 

[kdfrosty]

Bleaching (loss of color)

 

[shannonoss]

His is still nice and pink/green so I guess he is doing ok then. Thanks for the info, I appreciate the help. There is so much to learn with this hobby!

 

[hot883]

You will need to find out how old the bulbs are though because they will need replacing between 9-12 months. Some one correct me if I'm wrong.