What can these lights support?

[waterpolo]

What can two 20 Inch Satellite Compact Fluorescent lights support in a 55 gallon tank?They each have 40 watts and are 50/50 light bulbs. Thanks.

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by waterpolo
What can two 20 Inch Satellite Compact Fluorescent lights support in a 55 gallon tank?They each have 40 watts and are 50/50 light bulbs. Thanks.
Mushrooms, featherdusters, not much else.

 

[waterpolo]

no soft corals. People said i could

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by waterpolo
no soft corals. People said i could
Nothing that is dependant on light.

 

[murph145]

sorry they lied to u i would take them back and tell them u dont want them
ur basically guna need about 4 of those to keep softies in your tank and thats even on the low end of light

 

[iiinadav]

That lighting is not adequate for most corals. You can probably keep some mushrooms.

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by murph145
sorry they lied to u i would take them back and tell them u dont want them
ur basically guna need about 4 of those to keep softies in your tank and thats even on the low end of light
I agree, I have 260w of Power Compacts on my 55 and can keep mushrooms, ricordeas, zoanthids, gorgonian, star polyps, button polyps and thats about it.

 

[waterpolo]

Originally Posted by IIINADAV
That lighting is not adequate for most corals. You can probably keep some mushrooms.

I know I could keep these type of anemones

 

[gtiguy]

Youd be suprised at what you can do with certain light....
After upgrading my PC's to 4 12ks from 2 10ks i thought everything would be blooming like there is no tomorrow, unfortunately my tank crashed, and had one of the rarest things happen in a marine aquarium, a green pea soup algae bloom....(not only from lights but did contribute, had a deep sand bed problem as well-hydrogen sulfate)
but anyway with the use of algone (it really does work, unbelieveable) and switching to my old setup of 2 -10ks and 3 acntics totalling about 250 watts or so my tank is back in full swing and my softies are thriving, yes reaching alittle (mostly the zoos but thriving still...but yes i agree that is on the lower side of the light spectrum you need about 120+ to keep some decent softies .....

 

[waterpolo]

Originally Posted by GtiGuy
Youd be suprised at what you can do with certain light....
After upgrading my PC's to 4 12ks from 2 10ks i thought everything would be blooming like there is no tomorrow, unfortunately my tank crashed, and had one of the rarest things happen in a marine aquarium, a green pea soup algae bloom....(not only from lights but did contribute, had a deep sand bed problem as well-hydrogen sulfate)
but anyway with the use of algone (it really does work, unbelieveable) and switching to my old setup of 2 -10ks and 3 acntics totalling about 250 watts or so my tank is back in full swing and my softies are thriving, yes reaching alittle (mostly the zoos but thriving still...but yes i agree that is on the lower side of the light spectrum you need about 120+ to keep some decent softies .....
So there is no type of softy at all that doesn't require that much light that I might be able to have?

 

[wax32]

Mushrooms are the least light needing coral you can get, and your lights will just barely be enough for them. Your tank is long and pretty deep and you have 2 tiny 20" 40w bulbs.

 

[waterpolo]

Originally Posted by wax32
Mushrooms are the least light needing coral you can get, and your lights will just barely be enough for them. Your tank is long and pretty deep and you have 2 tiny 20" 40w bulbs.
Would 24 inch 65 watt bulbs be a lot better?

 

[waterpolo]

Originally Posted by wax32
Mushrooms are the least light needing coral you can get, and your lights will just barely be enough for them. Your tank is long and pretty deep and you have 2 tiny 20" 40w bulbs.
So I can basically only keep musrooms. Could I keep recordia?

 

[murph145]

if u wanna do it right and keep some nice soft corals healthy get some power compact lighting
they make some units out there that are a mixture of daylight spectrum and actinic spectrum which u can put over your tank at a low cost and do relatively well with softies and some LPS corals
these units have 260W of Power Compact lighting and would be a lot better if ur not looking to get too crazy into corals

 

[murph145]

if u get richordias which are basically anotehr form of mushrooms u might be able to keep them but there colors wont be as vibrant as under better lighting and they wont grow as well

 

[wax32]

Most Ricordea like more light than your normal mushrooms, so that would probably be pushing it.

 

[waterpolo]

Originally Posted by wax32
Most Ricordea like more light than your normal mushrooms, so that would probably be pushing it.
Can you guys help me then. Do you know where you can get some cheap but good lighting that can keep softies. I think I might want new lights.

 

[wax32]

Google "reef lighting" there are a lot of online places out of respect for this online store we can't post links to them or name them. Find something with at least four bulbs the length of your tank.

 

[waterpolo]

WOuld if I have that seperator thing in the middle of my tank. Does that affect the light penetration. So what kind of wattage am I looking at for soft corals?

 

[wax32]

The tank brace doesn't really affect fluorescent lights too much.
One of the common 230w power compact sets would be fine for softies. The wattages are standard. Get a PC or VHO set with four bulbs and you are good to go.