lighting question

[wesly2006]

so I have access to some shop lights like what would be inside a ceiling like say the university My question is, Whould these work to put over a reef tank if I got certain kinds of bulbs? if so what kind of bulb should I use for this?

im not quite sure how long they are Im thinking 48 inches. they do hold 4 bulbs each. what would you all recomend?

 

[leeweber85]

Matt used those for awhile... Ask him how he liked them. IMO I don't think it's worth saving a couple bucks on. By the time you buy 4-8 fluorecent reef bulbs you could easily by 1-2 metal halide bulbs (which if you watch the selling forums you can get for really cheap).

 

[glaspie69]

I think you'd be better off spending the cash and getting decent lights, it's not the watts that matter so much it's the intensity. You could have 400 watts of shop lights or one 400 watt halide. The difference is the shop lights will penetrate like 4 inches and the halide will penetrate 30....(don't quote my numbers but you get the point). It's just easier to buy something good you won't regret in a month than it is to try to do it a$$ backwards. LOL I should know I owned those shop lights matt had....they kinda got passed down the line.

 

[got2lb]

Save your money. It's not worth it. I had 8 of those bulbs over my tank and yes you can keep stuff alive, but it won't thrive at all. And by the time you buy new bulbs $15-$20 a piece you'd be better off putting that money towards a better lighting system.

 

[vvolfe1]

Depends on the lights but they are probably NO fixtures. I ran them for a bit when I first got my 55 going. Then switched to a T5 fixture without individual reflectors. Now I have overdriven T5's with IR's. In my experience it's not worth using the NO lamps. You'll get poor growth and limit the variety of corals you can keep. Since I switched to the icecap T5 setup overdiven my corals have almost all exploded in growth at a rate that is amazing compared to the old lights.
If someone thinks they can save money on lights by using NO lamps they are probably mistaken. I personaly spent alot more trying to be cheap and then having to buy better units later.
I'd get MH's or a good T5 setup from the start if I could do it over.