Lighting question

Nemo · #1 12-18-2004, 05:17 AM

I have the following light from coral life

Features:
- Two built in 3/4W LED Lunar Lights
- Built in Electronic Ballast
- Built in Cooling Fans
- Separate on/off controls for dawn/dusk effect
- Acrylic Lens Cover
- 2-Coralife SP 65W 10000K Bulbs
- 2-Coralife SP 65W Actinic Bulbs

Dimensions: 48"L x 7"W x 2.5"H.

Now I am now getting conflicting info, I am told that these lights will allow me to do corals (hard and soft), can some one please verify.....
If I need to go to halides I will but I am hoping to stick with this light, and upgrade in the future.

Robert

AJ_77 · #2 12-18-2004, 03:33 PM

You have a 140 right? What are the tank dimensions again? At any rate, that light is what most reefers would call "under-powered" for a 140... you may keep some nice mushrooms and softies, LPS... but with a tank depth of more than 20" or so you will have a lack of penetration (and nobody wants that).

And in a while the upgrade bug will bite anyways, you just wait...

Thing is, you have a pretty big tank and will need (I think) some serious lighting to do it up right. Mind you, I got by with PC lighting for a couple years OK... 20" tank depth though, with a sandbed.

BMW Rider · #3 12-18-2004, 03:37 PM

Probably not enough light for stony corals, might be marginal for some soft ones too depending on the depth of placement. On your tank is the 30" dimension the depth? If so, you will need lots more light to penetrate to the bottom. You should be able to keep a decent selection though, just watch what you choose to add and where you place them. There are some nice corals that do well in lower light I believe, but I'm certainly no expert on this.

For comparison, my 30" deep tank is lit with 2 x 250w 10000K MH and 2 x 96w actinic PCs. Even so, I still try keep the stonys up high where the light is best.

Murminator · #4 12-18-2004, 10:20 PM

Quote:

you will have a lack of penetration (and nobody wants that).

megatron_55 · #5 01-04-2005, 04:01 AM

Hey man . . your lighting is a little on the low side . . well u can certainly keep some corals but check my tank specs . .

I have a 27 gal. (long) maybe 12-13 inches deep
My lights are coralife 2 - 96 watt (192 watts total output) power compact making it a 7.2 watts per gallon (recommended lighting for reef tank is 3-5 watts per gallon)

Even though my lights are fairly bright I still need halides to keep clams and acroporas in order for them to keep its colors. . .

But if your low on cash . . . it'll do for now as halides are quite costly!

Willow · #6 01-04-2005, 04:33 PM

you have 1.8 watts per gallon, you are waaaay to low on light. it's ok to keep fish and a few softies but you should really be shooting for about 5 watts per gallon of usable light.

StirCrazy · #7 01-05-2005, 12:51 AM

OK OK, I am going to have to go through this again ...

Watts/gal means absolutely nothing unless you are talking about the exact same type of lighting on the exact same dimension tank.

the reason being that if I have two 100 watt MH bulbs on a tank that is say 90 gal and a dimension of 3 foot long x 2 foot wide x 2 foot tall and I compare that to a 90 gal that is 5 foot long x 30 inches wide and 12" tall with the identical lighting they are both 2.2 watt / gal. BUT the second tank is going to bleach a coral on the bottom where the first tank will barely have enuf light to get color.

If you are going to use comparisons like this then please use watts/square foot, which at least will be a good comparison for comparing tanks with the same lighting type. I personally use a PAR meter to compare my lights but not everybody can afford one but it is really the only real way to compare lighting systems at a specific point.

and on the same subject, if you have 192 watts of PC lighting this is not the same as having 192 watts of VHO or 192 watts of NO lighting and believe it or not is less light than having 175 watts of MH lighting.

the reason for this is intensity, NO are very low and the power of the light drops off faster and doesn't penetrate as deep while retaining power. VHO and PC are close but PC is about 10% more intense than VHO and the 175 watt MH is about 2 to 3X more intense.

So remember to really suggest lighting we need to know the depth of the tank, the types of lighting you are looking at and the intention of the tank.

Steve

StirCrazy · #8 01-05-2005, 12:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIGDADDY_23

I have the following light from coral life

Features:
- Two built in 3/4W LED Lunar Lights
- Built in Electronic Ballast
- Built in Cooling Fans
- Separate on/off controls for dawn/dusk effect
- Acrylic Lens Cover
- 2-Coralife SP 65W 10000K Bulbs
- 2-Coralife SP 65W Actinic Bulbs

Dimensions: 48"L x 7"W x 2.5"H.

Now I am now getting conflicting info, I am told that these lights will allow me to do corals (hard and soft), can some one please verify.....
If I need to go to halides I will but I am hoping to stick with this light, and upgrade in the future.

Robert

If you are going to put this on your 140 gal tank at 30" deep then forget about SPS. you need to bump up to 250 watt MH min for good color and growth in a tank that deep.

Steve

Nemo · #9 01-05-2005, 01:22 AM

Thanks Steve I ordered 2 x 250w mh yesterday from Coral Ocean

Snappy · #10 01-09-2005, 12:54 AM

I think I have the same problem?
I have 130 gal tank with dimensions 72"w x 20"d x 25"h.
I also have the coral life lights but 6ft long with 4x96 watt bulbs.
I am wanting to set up a reef. I have well over 200lbs of live rock but as of now it is mostly fish. What I have for corals seem to be doing ok except for my blue fan but I don't think that is a lighting issue.
Is my lighting sufficient for the really cool stuff?
Thanks,
Greg