Question lighting
 

Hi all..I am planning just having a about 2 clowns and a anemone plus a few others friendly fishes. I am wondering what kind of lighting do I need?
Will my regular flourescent be enough? and what kind of tube do I need if it is good enough. or if not..What should I get as a minimum

thanks.

depends on the size of your tank and the anemone you plan to keep

any anemone benifits from higher lighting, as a minimum I recomend PC or VHO, but if you look at the price it realy isn't that much more to move to a MH/VHO set up. but as was mentioned with out knowing the size of the tank as in lenght and how tall it is, it is hard to recomend any specific thing.

Steve

It is a 33 gallon, I don't know the exact dimension, but I know it is about 36" in length and about 16" witdth but don't know the depth. approx. 24"

as for the anemone I want to keep, I don't remember what is was called...but at the end of the tenticles there are some blue tips on the ends...

I think a 33 is 24" tall so at the very least if you want an anemone i would go with something like this

http://www.jlaquatics.com/cgi-bin/sh...gno=pc-al36096

Maybe upgrade to the 2x96w light fixture.

i'm fairly new to sw but upon reading & reading more...look to jump into mh and save yourself some grief and $$ by going with the best lighting setup right from the start.

I wouldnt recomend Metal Halide (MH) if all you want is a simple cost effective tank. MH cost alot to run compared to Power Compacts Or VHOs. They also require some sort of hanging ballest ot cabinet above the tank.

this is a misconception MH do not cost that much more to run than the equivalent wattage of VHO or PC or NO. the only difference is ballast efficiency which for MH is around 80 to 85% and the same for tar VHO ballast, electronic VHO and PH ballast run about 90 to 95% so really it is only a 5 to 10% difference in running a MH against an efficient PH or VHO in power usage.

I started out with overdriven NO, then moved to PC, then to PC and VHO, then 175MH , PC and VHO, then two 250 watt MH and two VHO actinic. all together I have spent 5000.00 on lighting in various combinations and this was trying to be cheep and save money as I didn't believe you needed all that, well from experience I can tell you spend the extra few bucks from the beginning and go to a MH type set up. Softies like the light, LPS like the light and SPS like the light. if you are thinking clams or anemone then I would say MH for sure. yes there are some SPS and anemone that do ok under lower light but they do do better under MH from what I have found. I would have saved over 4000.00 in lighting alone if I would have just went MH/VHO to start with :rolleyes:

Steve

i agree with steve with the exception of saying that mh on a 33 will create some serious heat issues. you will need to have some decent fans placed in the hood of the heat will be pretty high.

my 33 was 36x12x18 and I had a 175mh on it without too much trouble..it shed a similar (visable) amount of light that my 192w power compacts did, but had the super cool shimmer to the water :)

however, I would recommend either a sump or a fan in the canopy blowing on the bulb.

also, in a similar scenario as steve, I've had quite the assortment of light, but I found it neat to learn for myself how different lights work for tanks and what benifits/drawbacks each kind has...I am however working my way towards 2x250w hqi's. too bad they're $$. but the plan is to never have to upgrade after that.

I found power compacts (for me) had the most noticable drop in output over the shortest amount of time, and they're not overly cheap to replace every 6 (or less) months...actinics would only last me about 4 months at 12hrs a day

Although MH would be nice, but it is currently too rich for my blood.
I think the PC's seems to be the way to go for me now.

I see there are some with only ballast and the ones with the hood and stuff. but it seems the ballst kits only come in upto 65w...what is a minium wattage I need?

I also saw on the link from J&L that there is 2 different 36" 2x96W hood.
One with FW Aqualight and one without the FW...what is the diff??

Man...I am sooo confused.

The FW one has a more yellow looking light 6700k while the saltwater one will most likly come with a 50/50 light, half actinic half 10,000k or just a 10000k light. Which is more daylight coloured or bluish.

Awwwwhh....the FW is for fresh water.
I want to know also 96 watt means it support upto 96 watts tubes or it mean the tubes need to be 96 watts?

The tubes will need to be 96watt PC tubes either square pin or strait pin, which is printed on the box, also if you order the ones from jl they come with a light bulb as well.

if you go with coral life get the legs for the lights to. they helt some of the heat escape. I would get this one.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/cgi-bin/sh...gno=pc-al36192

http://www.jlaquatics.com/cgi-bin/sh...gno=pc-almount

that set up will be the best with out the jump to MH. you can also get a retrofit kit and make a canapony to mount it in if you want to go that way.

Brad

Exactly what I thought when I first started. Now Im looking into upgrading to Metal Halides. Could have saved myself a nice bundle had I gone direct to MH in the first place...

it's not so much the initial cost that is so hard it's the bloody price of pc bulbs i have to chuck in there ever 6 months. i am so fed up with pc now :bad-word:

I went to one of the local store today and check out what kind of lighting they have. I saw some of the standard tubes they have @ 30W.
I think it is the power glo by hagen...it said it is for fish...inverts...etc.
Are these any good? What are these for? I think it is @ 18000k or soemthing like that.

I have a 36" coralife 2x96w for sale.. :idea:

meh, they're still only normal output lights..just more purple than what you'd find normally.

I use 6500k philips daylight deluxe bulbs mixed with actinics to give a nice whitish look..they're only $4.59 a bulb :)

edit: 3" = 36" :redface:

I have the same lighting setup that Invigor has for sale on my 33gal with a sebae amemonie and it is doing very good. It is the one with the blue tips you are looking for. Don't plan on having a lot in that tank because thats a big anemone, mine reaches 10" when it's fully extended. Really cool creature though and my black and white clowns love it.

I ordered my replacement 96w PC bulb from Ocean Aquatics (Panasonic brand square pin config). Extremely happy with the light output from a full 10000k bulb. Much better, more useful lighting than the 50/50 bulbs & much brighter than Corallife. Gonna switch over to these Panasonics on my other units too. Same reaction from my friends who see a noticeable diff. between my previous bulb & the new Panasonics.

These comments would be the same even if I didn't work P/T at OA :biggrin:

JME & O

Anthony

did you compare when both brands of bulbs were new? of course the "newer" ones are going to be brighter

Then what are they good for?

The corallife bulb, even when new, are not as bright. But this was especially true in my case because my old bulb was a 50/50 which is why I usually now recommend a 10000k bulb, especially for anemones. I supplement mine with 2 20000k T-5s to get the blue I like.

As stated, this is JME & Opinion.

Anthony