Lighting Recommendation For 20gallon Long

[WheelmanCA19]

Hi, I have a 20 gallon long tank. Its been up for a little over 4 weeks now. 15lbs of live rock, 10lbs of live sand a polyp coral (came with the LR) and a blue damsel

I have about 1500gph of flow from the powerheads in the tank.

My main question is about lighting. I was thinking about buying either a 65watt or 2x65watt PC fixture for the tank, but I'm having a hard time figuring out just how much light I actually need.

Right now I have 2 15watt florescent and a 15watt spiral Compact Florscent that I just added to try and maybe save the polyp that came with my coral.

I've also thought of making a hood myself and buying a kit online to try and save some money. Or just using a bunch of CF bulbs in a homemade hood. That worked great on my girlfriends saltwater tank, but I don't think it will have the same result on a marine tank due to the color spectrum.

I don't plan on having anything except "beginner" corals in this tank.

Thanks for any help I may receive.

 

[Fish Fingers]

If all you want to keep is softies and other beginner corals than 2x65 watts wil be ok I think. You also will want to look into downgrading your flow.

I have about 1500gph of flow from the powerheads in the tank.

You have a lot of flow when you only really need around 15-20x. At the moment you have 75x turnover

 

[WheelmanCA19]

If all you want to keep is softies and other beginner corals than 2x65 watts wil be ok I think. You also will want to look into downgrading your flow.

I have about 1500gph of flow from the powerheads in the tank.

You have a lot of flow when you only really need around 15-20x. At the moment you have 75x turnover

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to double check on those numbers when I get home from work. That does sound like a lot of flow.

 

[Aquascaper]

That worked great on my girlfriends saltwater tank, but I don't think it will have the same result on a marine tank due to the color spectrum.

I thought Saltwater and Marine were the same...........someone changed the world and not told me??

Sorry seriously thought - look into corals a little more and get an idea of their lighting requirements. Most good reference books will give you an idea of the depth at which the coral should be placed, preferred flow rate and a rough guide to light levels.

At peak lighting time (ie. 2pm) I have about 560w over my tank and it's a 100g (UK)

 

[WheelmanCA19]

That worked great on my girlfriends saltwater tank, but I don't think it will have the same result on a marine tank due to the color spectrum.

I thought Saltwater and Marine were the same...........someone changed the world and not told me??

Sorry seriously thought - look into corals a little more and get an idea of their lighting requirements. Most good reference books will give you an idea of the depth at which the coral should be placed, preferred flow rate and a rough guide to light levels.

At peak lighting time (ie. 2pm) I have about 560w over my tank and it's a 100g (UK)

Sorry, she has a freshwater tank. Long day at work Also, my flow is about 500gph. I don't know what I was thinking earlier.

 

[mantis147]

I have a 16 Gallon with twin 55 watt power compacts over it and my corals seem to be doing fine, this is plenty of light for my tank ... Good Luck!!

Also i just have the one power head in my tank which pumps 600-700lph, 1500gph is some water movement! could keep trout in that!! lol