lighting question

[timdam]

about a year ago, i bought a 110 gallon tank with the lighting coming with it. The canopy has two PC strip lights, and one 14W MH bulb in the middle. This tank is FOWLR tank. i never thought about it, but now i realize that i might not need the MH light for a Fish Only tank. Is that correct? Would it be more energy efficient to get a cheaper light to save energy? does anyone even know if ONE 14W MH bulb will take up alot of energy?

I hope my queston was clear enough. I'm just trying to be more energy efficient.

 

[thegrun]

Well, you do not need MH lighting, although you will give up the shimmer effect that MH provides. T5 or even power compact lights are fine for fish only tanks.

 

[FrozenSeas]

If fish is all you want then get rid of the extra light. It will save you some energy and have less of a chance of getting a nuisance algae growing on your rocks. For fish I would only by the cheap fluorescent lights you can get at Canadian tire for a few bucks.

 

[problemfixer]

I use PC lighting for my FOWLR and it's very adequate.

 

[timdam]

sorry, i looked at the light and it's 14,000K MH. not 14W.

anyways, another question that i have about lighting is that i'm about to get a 24 x 24 x 18 rimless cube. if i was to transfer this light over to this cube, will it be enough lighting? and can i just buy any pendant and just add the bulb/ballast onto it? sorry for the question, i'm just not good with this electronic stuff.

 

[timdam]

i forgot to say that i wanna do the cube as a reef tank. and i just wanna know if that one 14,000K will be good enough for most corals, even hard/ORA ones.

 

[mndfreeze]

Missing a key bit of info here. What is the wattage of the MH bulb? 75, 150, 250?

 

[timdam]

sorry. it's 150W

 

[mfinn]

The important question is, Do you like the look of the tank with the mh light on it?

Your not going to hurt anything.

I use the lights on my tanks based on what appeals to me.

 

[timdam]

i do like the look. but at the same time, if i can save a few dollars on my electricity bill, then i might just rather try a different light.

and with the new cube tank i'm getting, i'm thinking about converving energy on one tank, so that it can be applied to the other tank.