Normal flourescent tanks

[Bonsai7255]

Anybody use NO flourescents for lighting on a reef tank? If so I would like to see some pics. Mine's not old enough to show any good pics(only small frags right now).

 

[K' Family Reef]

Re: Normal flourescent tanks

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11932160#post11932160 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bonsai7255
Anybody use NO flourescents for lighting on a reef tank? If so I would like to see some pics. Mine's not old enough to show any good pics(only small frags right now).

Bonsai - here is a free bump for you since no one else has replied...

but dont be surprised if you are the only one on RC using NO liting... perhaps there are others but the point is that you will be better off w/ atleast purchasing power compact liting if you plan on keeping a reef... and there are plenty of places to buy a used set up of PC lites... try craigslist.org for one or the RC buy/sell pages... perhaps even better would be to go the local club forum for your area to find out who might have better liting for you.

good luck!

regards

 

[useskaforevil]

haha when i first started a reef tank i went with Normal output lights (but i used bulbs that said they were for reef tanks! i swear it, haha.) anyway long story short, nothing that required light survived and i couldn't figure it out.

 

[clevername]

I also had two 40w 48inch normal blbs when first starting out. I didn't have anything but fish water and rock... It looks adequate but not nearly as good as my CHEAP $100 260w PC with moon lights.

I cant boast how elite my corals are but it gets the job done. Soft corals are great.

 

[new_world_disor]

bump

 

[Qwiv]

I have a frag tank with NO lighting. The tank is 4" deep.

 

[Bonsai7255]

I have three tubes of NO on a 29 gallon. So far my softies are surviving and actually growing. I would think that softies with good water quality and decent lighting might thrive. It's just an experiment. I actually have a 3 tube VHO setup I could and might eventually use but want to see what might be done with NO. I have a drilled 38 gallon I'm planning on setting up soon (hopefully) and am planning on using my VHO's on it with SPS and LPS.

 

[ZLTFUL]

My cube with 4 18 inch 15w a piece NO flourescents. 60 watts on a 30 inch deep tank. Xenia, Cabbage Leather, Mushrooms, Toadstool, Palys and Zoas all did well. I upgraded to a 150w mh system and am looking to upgrade tanks to a 75 with 2 of the fixtures I currently own on it...

NO Flourescents...

And now with 150w 10,000k MH...

And Blinkie the LMB for good measure...

 

[Bonsai7255]

Thanks for the pics. I think the main thing I see is you didn't get the eyepopping colors on your corals with the NO's. What type of bulbs did you use?

 

[ZLTFUL]

They were just the 18 inch tubes you can get at PetsMart. I made the hood from 4 undercabinet lights.
The bulbs were front to back: 18,000k, Actinic, 18,000k, Actinic.

I don't have any of the pictures but originally I had 4 6500k bulbs in the fixture and it was VERY yellow.

 

[Bonsai7255]

Did it have good color with the NO's and the camera just didn't pick it up?

Anybody else?

 

[BigRedSpecial]

I ran my 10 up until this Christmas on NO; I had two 27w 6500k screw in CF bulbs, two 18" 15w tubes(actinic and 6700k) and one 15" 14w 18000k(or so it was called); 96w total. I grew palythoas, mushrooms, some hitchhiker LPS, chaeto, various macro algae, and a ton of Coraline with no problem, so it can be done, in theory at least.

Here's the other side:
1. that was on a 10 gallon with a custom canopy. on a larger tank, you might not be able to fit enough bulbs for sufficient light, and I highly doubt it would work on deeper/higher tanks(mine is only 12")

2. at Christmas I upgraded to a PC fixture; two 40w bulbs. I'm saving electricity(80 vs. 96w), have a good bit more light, and the colors are simply incomparable. Plus, the fixture cost me $100 brand new; prior to that I spent close to $80 in ballasts, endcaps, bulbs, etc

if I had gone with PC from the start, I'd only be out around $20. On a larger tank, NO would probably actually cost more. Plus what I have now is a MUCH better solution.

I'll post before/after pics tomorrow, but right now it's 1 am and I have class at 9.