What Type Of Bulb Do I Buy?

[bdhough]

I have a dual flourescent bulb fixture thats holds 2 18" 15 watt bulbs. The tank is 10 gallons. I plan on having corals in the tank. Im confused on the type of bulbs i should buy. I know i should get one actinic blue bulb and....????

 

[gregzbobo]

You probably don't have enough wattage to keep anything except maybe some shrooms, but an actinic 03, and perhaps a 10k.

 

[surfnturf]

You may want to look into a PC retrofit kit for that hood, then you could keep almost anything in there (55W and up)

 

[gregzbobo]

I agree with surfnturf, if your budget allows it, try to go the route he said. A 55 watt pc will give you 5 and a half watts a gallon, which is enough to keep most any soft coral, and perhaps a few hardy LPS corals. If you do get one, get one of the bulbs thats half actinic, and half 10k.

 

[bdhough]

Well.... All this I do know. But unfortunately I have an Eclipse system which doesnt really allow me to get that high without spending well over 100 dollars and my budget was 50 so i went with the 30 watts. I don't expect to get some of the more colorfull ones.... You know the corals that are 50 and 60 dollars. But i would like some mushrooms and some green plolyps.... I've got the live rock situated so that the corals will be roughly 6 or 7 inches from the light source, so they should be all good....??? Of course the mushrooms will be in the shadier areas. I just wasn't sure what 2 blubs to get.

 

[surfnturf]

Just as an example, petsolutions sells a retrofit for the Eclipse 12, it is a 32 watt smartlamp for about $70 including the bulb. You could spend about 40 on just the bulbs for your present hood, so it would be economical.

 

[bdhough]

DOH!!!!! I already bought the lights from Marineland, their upgrade.... Hmmm.... I assume this place has a website. Ill look around. Any other ideas you know of would be greatly appreciated. Maybe ill just send these lights back and go with that one.... I'm more interested in investing in good lighting and good corals than getting fish. I figure corals die slower than a fish will if i screw anything up....

 

[surfnturf]

try ahsupply on the internet as well.