what is this enough light for?

[rino0987]

Hello i recently made a DIY lighting fixture for my 29 gallon reef aquairum before i but any corals in it i was wondering if 2 20 watt fixtures (shown below) and 2 10 watt fixtures (shown below) would be enough and for what?
thanks,
ryan

http://www.aquariumguys.com/minicompact3.html
(It comes in 10 and 20watts)

 

[bradbmbj]

Im not 100% as I have not used these before, but I would think it would be more than enough for mushrooms.

 

[rino0987]

what about sps and hard corals? would this be enough for an anenome?

 

[just hanging]

no soft colors really mabye a lps at top but thats it.

 

[tipmoff]

You will need a mininum of 3 watts per gal. to keep anything that requires light to feed and live. There are many threads here about lighting and reefing. Check the Coral Forums where there is much talk about lighting and corals. You would probably be able to keep Mushrooms as stated and some minimum light poly's. There are also non-photosynthetic corals you could keep. I'm assuming you have all the other parameters and equipment necessary for responsible coral keeping. Good luck.

 

[rino0987]

what if i used 2 10,000k screw in florecents and 2 20 watt bulbs that i listed above? i built it so i have 4 places to screw in any types of bulbs would typical house lights work a assume that they put out the same color that any other bulb would put out

 

[amonchak]

Typically the lights needed for any corals beyond mushrooms and some softies are t5's or MH. It is as improtant to look at all the factors that will play a part into the lighting setup (ie depth of corals, height of fixture above surface, etc). The current setup you describe gives you ~2 watts per gallon but depending on the aquascaping and your coral placement plan, I would only suggest mushrooms and some of the less demanding softies.

Checkout WetWebMedia and the artlcles/FAQs on lighting. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/setup/lighting/index.htm
This site helped me out a lot when I was determining what lighting to go with for an LPS dominated mixed reef.

Here is another good link that discusses lighting for saltwater aquariums. http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/saltwater/greco_lighting.html

 

[rino0987]

What i was asking/saying is i could get any screw in bulbs, would these work? I can get them from 5 watt to 100 watt and they would work in my setup. would this work for corals, i am not concerned about the color i just want them to grow. do typical household bulbs work?