too much light

[Spyogenes]

is it possible to have too much light in your aquarium? i am looking to add to my lighting. right now i have a 15w actinic and another 15w 20k daylight. my thoughts were to switch out the atinic replacing it with another 20k daylight and adding in some uv light and short wavelenght blue via some lighting i have left over from modifying a computer. ultra bright ultra cool and uber low electricity usage not to mention a low cost of putting it all together. thoughts? im working on calculating out the amount of light produced from these things. i do know that from the equations all the intensity from the source will reach the bottom of the tank. i dont wanna burn the corals that i have. the corals i have are some gsp's, zoo's, mushrooms, kenya tree (which isnt looking too hot) and one feather duster (the other one vanished and has yet to reappear). im predicting it should be a lot brighter than MH lighting. will post the figures here when i get them calcualted. thanks for your help thoughts and ideas.

SEMPER FIDELIS
spyogenes

 

[Spyogenes]

okay what i have now is the luminance (amount of light emitted from the surface) is 29,000 cd/m2 i know that sun light is 10,000 cd/m2 or 1000ftcds so when i set up the ratio i end up getting 2900 ftcds accounting for the 10% water absorbs thats roughly 2600 footcandels (ftcds) is this too much light?

 

[scoobasteve]

you really need to give the specs of your setup. Whats is the size/hieght of your tank? If you have two 15w lights i am sure it won't burn anything besides perhaps an ice cube. i am also not too sure how you are going to find a 15w 20k bulb, those kelvins are usually reserved for MH lights. I am still just wondering how 30w plus a computer light (cold cathode?) would be brighter than mh lighting.

 

[Agu]

That's the light on your ten gallon in your profile ?

I have almost that much light on a 5.5 and more than 3 times that light on my 10 gallon tanks.

Don't even consider a UV bulb (if it's the kind used in a UV Sterilizer) over your tank unless you want to fry your retinas.

 

[shag26272]

i have 83 watts on my 6 gallon

 

[Spyogenes]

do any of you all know the luminance of a MH light? my tank is a normal ten gal 1 foot from the light to the bottom of the sand bed. which according to the equations all of the lght emitted will reach the bottom of the tank

 

[herostar]

I run 175w MH over my 10g and it's not too much. I wouldn't worry about the lights you're thinking of using.

Don't use the UV light either. Double ended metal halide lights put out alot of UV and require a special shielded glass between the bulb and the water.

I assume the 15w bulbs are the straight t8 flourescent type...?...? As many of those as you can fit over your tank won't be "too much".

If you really want to bump up your lighting look into a 40w, 80w, or 96w fixture for your 10g.

Generally good spectrums for reef aquarium lighting are between 10K and 20K. Actinic lighting is also used in the 420-460nm range. Some people run 10K lights and actinics, and some people just run straight 20k lights.