lighting for soft corals

[weaselslucks]

I have a 29 gallon tank. my first saltwater experience. i have been researching on the keeping of corals and have been told that 3 watts per gallon is fine. so that will mean i need 2 65 watt lights? what should i start with after cycling the tank?

 

[phljess]

The watts per gallon rule is not necessarily the best way to figure out how much lighting you need. The depth of the tank is also very important. For Example a 20 high is much deeper than a 20 Long. I think you would do better if you have about 5 watts per gallon. IME, PC lighting is not the best to use, I prefer metal halides. IMO, One 150 watt halide will help you grow corals better than having 260 watts of PC lighting. The are also T5 fluorescents and many people seem to really prefer them over PC lighting. I do not have any experience with T5, so someone else will have to chime in on them.

 

[weaselslucks]

I have read that halide's get really hot and there would be a worry with thet cats. i have a standard 29. 17 inches high with a 3 inch sand bed anyone know a good site to get lights my LFS is so expensive

 

[weaselslucks]

I found this one http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=ES53102 why is power compact not good? i'm not trying to be snotty just trying to figure this all out freshwater tanks are so much easier for me. if i had a total of 130 watts will that be enough for hard corals to?i plan on adding live rock so there will be bright spots right near the surface and darker ones for like mushrooms.

 

[reefnewbie54321]

I would not use MH's in a 29 Soft tank ... if it were SPS it would be a different story.

I would go with a 2:1 ratio of 10k and Actinic 65w PC's (2 10k and 1 actinic) but if you dont want to deal with retrfits or building your own hood then the hood you listed should work although you will only be able to keep soft corals. You may want to look into a 24" T-5 kit which will provide more light so if down the road you want to add some higher light corals (not even sps but stuff like xenia or higher light lps's)

 

[phljess]

I have been doing this for quite a while now. PC's will work for most soft corals but I would not use them again. I definitely would not try any SPS corals under PC's, except maybe a montipora. If you do try to keep SPS with PC's you will be spending alot more in money buying corals than you ever spent buying lights. A 150 watt halide is not that hot if you have it in a canopy or enclosed with fans running across it. Halides penetrate the water much better than PC's and have greater intensity. Everyone says halides are expensive and hot, well think of it this way, If you bought one 150 watt halide retro and used a 14K bulb you would not have to have actinics. You would also be using only one bulb instead of two and you would get better growth.

 

[phljess]

Why wouldn't you use Metal Halides on a soft coral tank? Have you ever used them before? Also I am not downing the use of T5's I said I just don't know that much about them. I would guess they would work better than PC's because of their small diameter which makes them more intense.

 

[weaselslucks]

where could i get T5's from the same site?

 

[TereKers]

I use MH's on a soft tank, granted it may look better with PC's I find growth is extremely fast with MH's. (some cases colours are more intense, such as my devil finger is very yellow instead of brown.)

 

[weaselslucks]

ok so i figured if i got the haligen at 150 w at .15 a kilowatt/hr at 10 hr per day thats like 6 something a month. That does not seem too bad athought it is twice as much to get it. sorry fo all the coast issues but i'm on a tight budget. Now how hot do haligens get? the tank is next to the couch so whould i have to worry about radiating heat catching things on fire or buring me?i think it would get hot to the touch

 

[phljess]

Buddy you do not want to get halogen bulbs you want to get Metal Halides. The cost should be about the same as far as electricity goes, 130 watts of PC is still 130 watts of power being used. 150 watt halides might be a little bit more in electricity, especially if you use magnetic ballasts but its not that much difference. Your corals will thank you for it in the long run and will grow much better. As far as the cost of the lighting equipment itself, there are alot of places you can find the equipment and it may be less than buying the PCs. I will post a couple places you can get cheap halides from in just a minute.

 

[phljess]

Here are some sites for cheap halides aquaticlight.com- retrofits and aquatraders.com -prebuilts.

 

[reefnewbie54321]

I didnt say I wouldnt run Halides on a soft coral tank I just wouldnt use them on a 29 ... mainly becuase of heat and for a tank of that depth there are better cheaper options. I actualy run a pair of 150w MH's over my 120.

I think T-5's would be better becuase they wont cook your tank and will be more energy efficient and cost efficient when it comes to bulb replacment/ballast replacement. Depth is not an issue with a 29 so I see no need to use MH's.

Halogen lights = BAAAD!

Look at HelloLights for retrfits there my favorite. If you do decide to go with MH they have a 150w Pulse Start kit for 102$ BUT the bulbs only come in 65k or 50k (looks less blue then my old 20k bulbs), this kit was good for me becuase I wanted a 65k bulb on one side for clam growth that was supplemented with 2 65w Actinics and then the 50k bulb on the other side supplemented with 2 65w 65k bulbs. I had a spare PC hood so my whole light setup cost 200$ not including the bulbs. They sent me 2 free 50k bulbs and I bought 1 65k Bulb so the bulbs only costed me 70$ aswell.

 

[weaselslucks]

Could someone explane what t'5's are?
is it VHO?

 

[weaselslucks]

reefnewbie54321 where is that starter kit i cant find it on the site

 

[reefnewbie54321]

T-5's are not VHO's ... I don't know how to explain what they are but they are florescent strip lights that look like regular T-12's or T-8's but have a bigger diameter and put out a PAR that is as strong as MH (still some skepticism about this fact, I don't think they have the depth penetration like MH's do but for a short tank they work fine). I would say that T-5's are more efficient then VHO's and less efficient then MH's depending on the depth of tank.

Heres the 150w Kit at 105$, I only bought this kit because I wanted the 65k bulbs for clam growth.

http://www.hellolights.com/15iw50mhretk.html

Heres the 175w Kit at 99$, I would buy this kit If you want better bulb options (bulbs are cheaper as well). With this kit the Ushio 10k bulb should be used because of the pulse start ballast ... using any of the other bulbs might not be a good idea.

http://www.hellolights.com/17methalretk1.html

 

[phljess]

T5's have a smaller diameter than T8 or T12's. That is why they are suppose to be more intense, Like I said before, I do not know alot about T5's. They seem to be good lights, much better than PC's. However, I do not believe the hype that they are better or even equal to halides. Heat should not be a problem with a 150 watt halide if it is vented and cooled properly using a fan. I could also be a pendent style and would not cause a heat issue. You could also believe T5's would be a good type of lighting for a 29 gallon. I have even heard there are people keeping clams and some SPS using T5's. I would just steer clear of PC's if it were me.

 

[weaselslucks]

thank you all so much i don't thin i could do this without you.I'll have pics up of my still empty tank soon.

 

[weaselslucks]

the 150 watt kit is that T'5 lights?i think i want to go with T'5's and if that kit is how would i install it?

 

[jaymz101]

T5 are small (3/8 in) diameter flourescent bulbs. VHO are a T12 (1.5 in dia) flourescents. PC are folded T8 or T12 flourescents.

The main advantage of T5 is cost and size. B/c they are so small you can put more light into the same amount of space and the bulbs are much cheaper thamn PC. Also run much cooler at same wattage than any of the others (VHO, PC, MH) To get the full advantage, most good T5 lights have individual reflectors for each bulb. This squeezes the maximum amount of light out of each watt so you can run fewer total watts for same light output = cheaper electric bill.

VHO are larger, more intense flourescent lights. They also put out more heat than T5 b/c higher wattage. Bulbs are more expensive than T5 but I confess, Ive never really researched VHO's.

PC are less expensive in the short term (cheaper for a light setup), but bulbs lose spectrum fast, dont have the same penetration/intensity, dont last as long as T5, run hotter and cost alot more (roughly double the same size T5).

MH run the hottest, are the most expensive, but nothing (and I mean nothing) will be as intense or penetrate as well as MH.