Is Halogen lighting ok to boost light?

[greeneyesmiami]

Hello. I have a 20g Prop tank with a 15" Current CF/Act combo, but I just put some frags of Monti caps in the tank. I'd like to boost the light a little bit to help these grow faster, so I went to Ikea and bought a small INREDA Halogen light fixture to mount on the side and light from above.

Is this ok? Will the light spectrum do anything for the Montis?

 

[Patriot54]

Bump, intrested in this too.

 

[greeneyesmiami]

bump

 

[greeneyesmiami]

bump

 

[bishop82476]

bump

 

[Chibils]

In my (very limited) experience, halogens have very low kelvin spectrums (2500-4000K generally) and that's good for growth. However, halogens are hardly a step up from incandescent in that they're very inefficient.

 

[kgross]

Your halogen light will not do much of anything for the corals. The light is a very low color temp, and besides that the amount of light vrs heat that is put out is very low.

If you want something cheap and easy to increase the available light. Get a couple of the twist type compact florescent bulbs that screw into incandescent sockets that are 6500K daylight.

Kim

 

[reiko1078]

ummm i think it will keep the montis warm. but thats about it. halogen put off a LOT of heat and i dont believe they operate at a usable spectrum. someone else may have more info but it doesnt sound like there chiming in

 

[toothman]

Some what off the subject but I have two 150 watt halogen lights on my 150 gal Rubbermaid refugium, it works great, but hot and bulbs burn out quickly. I tried to go to 4 florescent tubes but the refuge quickly declined as did the tank. I installed a new 2 light halogen and will most likely not change back.