Light Units?

[Luke & Penny]

Im having a 2nd hand Juwel rio 180 and it has the light unit missing.

It will be used for upgrading a marine set up from a rekord 96 to the 180.

the rekord 96 had normal T8 Lighting in it, now the question is:

Which lighting would be adequate for this tank, price wise, I know im going to have to spend out but the more money i can save is better for me.

Im being baffled by T8, T5 and power compacts and light units.

I live in the midlands in the UK if that helps

Cheers on any help, as I am getting a brain explosion now.

 

[Luke & Penny]

Anyone???

 

[Sean_Buckley]

Well, your lighting depends on what type of corals you want. For a fish-only tank, NO (normal output) flourescents would be fine, for softies (zoas, mushrooms, etc), fairly high wattage of NO or lower wattage of PC or T5 lamps would do fine. For LPS (large polyp stonies, eg. candycane coral), you would want medium to high range wattage in PC or T5's, or lower wattage metal halides. For SPS (small polyp stonies eg. acropora), you would want VHO T5's or metal halide. If you have VHO T5's or metal halides, as long as they are fairly strong in watts, you could keep just about any coral (water conditions providing). I'm also fairly new to this hobby, so if you have any questions, ask an expert, such as Steelhealr, etc. Or you could ask me, and see if I can answer. As of now, my knowledge of the hobby greatly surpasses my experience. HTH.
Sean

 

[maestro]

Anyone???

Hello

Ive got a rio 180 marine tank and bought a 40" 4xt5 Arcadia luminaire to sit over the top, it was £160 new

T5 tubes put out more light than a t8 tube of the same length.

Again it depends what you want to keep, personally I would look at a min of 2 t5's, you can get a arcadia I bar unit that sits under the hood, specially designed for jewell tanks.

Otherwise its a shame you dont live closer, I have the orginal t8 unit in my shed doing nothing