I'm plumbing a frag tank into my system with the helpful advice of some very knowledgeable and experienced club members. [Thank you very knowledgeable and experienced club members.] I need a place to safely harbour frags since the fish are hard on them in the display tank; I do already have a hang-on fuge w/rock-sand-microalgae. My question is: Is there any benefit to placing mirror or, say, aluminum foil under the frag tank or on the sides or back for the purpose of reflecting light around more? Or is that a stupid idea? [I sure come up with those now and then.] Also, the frag tank is a 20 gal high. Is it necessary to think metal halide or can I get away with single blub strip lighting, which I already have? My frags will be up off the bottom of the tank on a shelf in a bare bottom tank.
Reflecting
- Thread starter joyski58
- Start date
firefish2020
New member
Of course there is an advantage prob small though, but only if you keep it clean, over time the sides of most fuges end up covered. Putting it on the Btm prob not that great of an idea as you would want some rubble or mud in it I would think.
Use what lighting you want, the more light and lower K temp the faster growth.
phljess
New member
Yes, I would think the reflector on the side maybe somewhat helpful but will end up getting covered by coraline in the long run. I think if I were going to put a reflector on the side of a tank, I would try to use a mirrored window tint.
Also like Ron said a bulb with a low K rating will make growth faster but you would not want to go below 5.5 K. 6.5 most closely resembles natural daylight.
Also like Ron said a bulb with a low K rating will make growth faster but you would not want to go below 5.5 K. 6.5 most closely resembles natural daylight.
Sorry. I'm still trying to "grasp" a total understanding of the light thing. So, would an 18" 15 watt T8 6500K daylight bulb w/actinic be better for growing frags than, say, the K-2 Viper HQI Clamp on Lamp w/a 14,000K (double-ended) metal halide lamp @ 70 watts, or 150 watts.
coralreefer
No Pistons
Joyce
Is the strip light an NO bulb? Might be OK for softies but they wont grow too fast.
IMO for a frag tank a 65w LOA flood light from Homedepot/Walmart would be the best bang for the least money. Equal to a 65w PC and it's 6500k the best kelvin for growth.
For reflection since it's bb try a piece of white cutting board aka starboard on the bottom. Most of the "starboard reefers" report white starboard did reflect some light from the bottom...until it got covered in coraline. Since it's a frag tank you probably won't have a lot of coraline growth and if you do it would be easy to take out and scrape off. Personally I don't think putting reflectors on the side would do much.
Is the strip light an NO bulb? Might be OK for softies but they wont grow too fast.
IMO for a frag tank a 65w LOA flood light from Homedepot/Walmart would be the best bang for the least money. Equal to a 65w PC and it's 6500k the best kelvin for growth.
For reflection since it's bb try a piece of white cutting board aka starboard on the bottom. Most of the "starboard reefers" report white starboard did reflect some light from the bottom...until it got covered in coraline. Since it's a frag tank you probably won't have a lot of coraline growth and if you do it would be easy to take out and scrape off. Personally I don't think putting reflectors on the side would do much.
coralreefer
No Pistons
NO the MH would blow any 15w bulb away regardless of kelvin
Most people don't use 6500k bulbs any more (65k MH use to be very popular) because the are pretty yellow...think somebody peed in the tank...and it takes a lot of actinic to balance them out. With a frag tank most people want growth and don't care as much about color so 65k is a good choice. But a NO bulb won't compete with MH.
btw another think to consider is what type of "coral" you're going to grow out. a 150w HQI would be perfect for some overkill for others and probably just plain fry the rest.
H.crispa
New member
Holy crap! This is getting complicated. Here is my 2 cents: Using aluminum foil would be bad b/c the SW will corrode it and having lots of Al in the tank can't be good. You don't want to give your brain coral Alzheimer's. Not a joke. Not supposed to be one. N'uff said.
On the other hand, reflecting light so the underside of the coral can use it is absolutely a good idea! That is a great benefit of a thin aragonite sand bed. Pure white natural reflectivity and none of the controversial, potential ill effects of a DSB. Just there for the reflectivity. Your reeftank is your playground. Try stuff. If it feels right, give it a shot. If it is too radical for you to be cool with it, then you are not ready to try it and lack the confidence and/or expertise to try it. This is a good thing.
I need to go to my room now, so for the rest of this go to the ramblings sticky.
On the other hand, reflecting light so the underside of the coral can use it is absolutely a good idea! That is a great benefit of a thin aragonite sand bed. Pure white natural reflectivity and none of the controversial, potential ill effects of a DSB. Just there for the reflectivity. Your reeftank is your playground. Try stuff. If it feels right, give it a shot. If it is too radical for you to be cool with it, then you are not ready to try it and lack the confidence and/or expertise to try it. This is a good thing.
I need to go to my room now, so for the rest of this go to the ramblings sticky.
firefish2020
New member
BB tanks don't stay BB long, with good flow and calcium they overgrow in thick calcareous algae so it would be pointless IMO.
