Gardon Flood Light = Halide Fish Light?

[garybuk]

Quick question about lights!


Is it ok to leave one blue t5 on all night?

 

[Musho3210]

So whats the best best bulb/unit you can get for best coral groth!!

You got all these diffrent k-ranges!


Whats the best of the best?

none really because A: Ballasts play a role too, B: The kelvin rating that is labeled on the bulb is false most of the time, C: Corals come from different depths which means some like more blue others like more yellow etc. D. Bulb life matters, as time goes on, the bulb starts to slowly diminish its kelvin rating and goes all weird, and E. PAR matters more.

 

[garybuk]

So whats the best best bulb/unit you can get for best coral groth!!

You got all these diffrent k-ranges!


Whats the best of the best?

none really because A: Ballasts play a role too, B: The kelvin rating that is labeled on the bulb is false most of the time, C: Corals come from different depths which means some like more blue others like more yellow etc. D. Bulb life matters, as time goes on, the bulb starts to slowly diminish its kelvin rating and goes all weird, and E. PAR matters more.

Oh ok whats PAR ?

 

[Musho3210]

photosynthetic active radiation

 

[garybuk]

photosynthetic active radiation

Thanks theres always somethink you find out about marine

 

[SkiFletch]

hehe, yeah PAR is a measure of the light spectrum that is usable by plants. As a "general" rule of thumb, 6700K bulbs look yellow, 10000K bulbs look white-yellow, 14000K look white-blue and 20000K look really blue. PAR is also generally inversely related to kelvin ratings, so as K goes up, PAR goes down, and vice versa. Also, the higher the Kelvin rating, the lower the bulb life. The reason for this is the phosphors that are used as the more blue phosphors are not as "powerful" or able to create light, also those lamps are very selective whereas the lower K bulbs have blue and red phosphors, giving more PAR.

Ok so now that we've said that, if you've got a corner tank, these are generally best lit by halides. What is the length of the straight edges on your tank?

 

[garybuk]

hehe, yeah PAR is a measure of the light spectrum that is usable by plants. As a "general" rule of thumb, 6700K bulbs look yellow, 10000K bulbs look white-yellow, 14000K look white-blue and 20000K look really blue. PAR is also generally inversely related to kelvin ratings, so as K goes up, PAR goes down, and vice versa. Also, the higher the Kelvin rating, the lower the bulb life. The reason for this is the phosphors that are used as the more blue phosphors are not as "powerful" or able to create light, also those lamps are very selective whereas the lower K bulbs have blue and red phosphors, giving more PAR.

Ok so now that we've said that, if you've got a corner tank, these are generally best lit by halides. What is the length of the straight edges on your tank?

i can fit 3ft t5s alone the side! and 4ft from frount corner to frount corner!

Im bidding on a halide unit on ebay at the min


its 250w x2 halids
and
2x54w t5s witch are 10,000k
and
moon lights


Does this seem ok? its 4ft so will go across the top niceley!

 

[SkiFletch]

That's a LOT of light... Surely more than enough for the tank, and plenty for your electricity bill

 

[garybuk]

That's a LOT of light... Surely more than enough for the tank, and plenty for your electricity bill

Is it too much light?? i can get one with just 1x 250 halide?


Cheers ski you the best

 

[SkiFletch]

TBH, it sounds like a single 400 watt halide would be your best option

 

[Musho3210]

I would go with dual 250's, more dispersed light, yes higher electricity bills, but you wouldnt want shadows all over your tank. But if you do go with the 400 watt, make sure you get a REALLY good reflector, that way you can avoid the shadows.


EDIT: Just noticed it is a corner tank, i dont know, id still go with 250 watters.

 

[andywg]

If that is a 500W halide I would be inclined to stay well away since a 500W point source far exceeds anything that nature throws at corals (from both a light and heat point of view).

If 500W is so bad, how comes so many people use 400W and 1kW halides on reefs? Heating is certainly an issue, though it is far from unbeatable. I somehow doubt these levels exceed nature.

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, missed that post. Yeah, no man made light that an average joe can afford to have in his house is going to exceed what the Sun can put out. For example, when I had it, I took some PAR readings on my tank with twin 175watt halides. Got anywhere from 90-250 PAR. Local reefers with 400watt halides got usually between 180 and 400PAR. Taking the PAR meter outside on a sunny day and pointing it upwards it goes off scale at 10,000 PAR... As technologically advanced as we may be, you still can't beat the power of a giant ball of nuclear fusion

 

[Musho3210]

Heh, missed that post. Yeah, no man made light that an average joe can afford to have in his house is going to exceed what the Sun can put out. For example, when I had it, I took some PAR readings on my tank with twin 175watt halides. Got anywhere from 90-250 PAR. Local reefers with 400watt halides got usually between 180 and 400PAR. Taking the PAR meter outside on a sunny day and pointing it upwards it goes off scale at 10,000 PAR... As technologically advanced as we may be, you still can't beat the power of a giant ball of nuclear fusion

one day... one day