lighting?

[JJ1234567]

How much is too much? Im looking at wanting to do some corals and such, and I found a good sale on the orbitz Powercompact. the 36 inch fixture with 384 watts for 350$. Im thinking either 60 or 70 gallons, this would be 5.5 - 6 watts of light a gallon is that too much, not enough? what?

 

[Def]

6 watts per gallon is nothing much to worry about. 10w per gallon is better, but it also depends on the type of light (power compact -v- halide for example) and type of corals. Remember that corals can bleach because of massive light changes too.

 

[fraservet]

It also depends how deep your tank will be.
Power compacts will not penetrate as well as halides.

As said, it depends on what corals you want to keep - some really don't like too much light.

 

[maestro]

Its not really the litgh output that would be a problem but more the heat, its going to hard to keep the temperature down without buying a hugely expensive chiller, fans might do it depending on the room temp

Some deeper water fish dont like brighter lights.

 

[smellyangryman]

Sorry to bring this back up
But i really dont understand all the lighting.
Whats t5 lighting?
People say all these brands i have never heard of.
I have to flurecence globes and reflectors.
Is it just the globes that make the lighting more powerful? or is it also the reflector.
How can i find out how much watts my globes put out?
Do you have to have a marine reflector to get marine globes?
My Flurencent reflectors are 240W each, if i got 2 marine gloabes would that be alright.

I really dont understand the lighting part.

 

[fraservet]

ok, I will try to help as much as I can.

the numbers t5, t8 and t12 refer to the long fluorescent tubes which you can get. the number just refers to the diameter of the tube - t12 is usually what you find in buildings for ceiling lighting, t8 is the standard (1inch?) tube that has been used in fishkeeping for years, t5 is a bit thinner.
the relevance for us with t5's is that they produce more light per inch of length, so for example a 4ft t5 is 54w, while a 4ft t8 is 36w (i think, but you get the idea).
the smaller profile also means less light is directed into the tube, especially when using reflectors.

I'm not really familiar with globe type fluorescent tubes so someone else can help there, but they probably have the wattage written on them somewhere.

Also important is the colour temperature of the lights, measured in degrees kelvin.

reflectors generally increase the effective wattage by up to 180%.

there is not a marine reflector as such, but I guess you would have to check that your reflector is not going to be affected by the salt water and leach.


I'm not sure what you mean by the reflectors being 240w each, a reflector itself has no wattage, it is the bulb or tube.
You may be referring to a wattage rating for the ballast/starter unit.

 

[steelhealr]

Hi..to go back to the original question..the amount of lighting would fall under the category of moderate -high and should be enough to support SPS..does it have actinic lighting in it? SH