lighting for a bta

[debadoo]

I have a 36 gal bowfront with 130 watts of pc and 48 watts of ho t-5 lighting. Will this be enough light for a bta? Thanks

 

[hybridgenius]

Yea... it will, but....... its the MINIMUM. You're lucky you got the bta since its the easiest out of all the anemones and requires the least lighting. But when you can... an upgrade in lighting will help alot also.

 

[debadoo]

When I can afford it I am thinking of getting rid of the pcs and adding more t-5. Would that be a better plan? If so how many watts would be best?

 

[garygb]

Something like a Tek light, 4 or 6 bulb 39watt t-5 HO would be plenty assuming you are using the correct type of bulbs (daylight).Distance the anemone is from the bulbs, making sure the bulbs are the correct Kelvin, and also making sure the bulbs are not old is a more important consideration than watts per gallon.

 

[tydtran]

I think that the lighting you have now is perfectly adequate for the anemoney you are consider.

 

[debadoo]

So Gary........Is it not a good idea to use actinic? What K bulb do you recommend? Thanks

 

[Haddonisreef]

I use a 14 k Mh but if you go pc a mix of 10 k and actnic or poss a 5050 would be ok.

 

[jeeperrs]

I think people tend to put too much light in their tank. I have a 120 with 4 t-5s and 2 150 watt MH. A lot of people would say I don't have enough light but I have no issue with SPS, LPS, anemones and so forth. I think you would be just fine running 3 T-5s over your 36 gallon tank. Also, you could always see if your LFS has a light meter so you could see exactly how much PAR you have in the tank and at what depth. By saying all this, I think your lights now are fine and when you upgrade don't think you need to put a mini sun over the tank Oh, for the light temp I run 14,000k on my MH and all actinic on my t-5s. Hope that helps