Wheres what watt would work.........??:eek: :eek:

[Scavenger]

OK say that 5 times really fast
Anyway, I was wondering about PC lighting, in house hold fixtures, they say a 13 watt PC equals a 40 watt incondesant and so forth. Does this too apply to PC lighting for reef tanks? If so, this confuses me as to how much light to get as the rule of thumb of 3 watts/gallon for low light, 5 watts/gallon for medium lights ect. goes out the window. My brain is now numb trying to figure this out, any advise??

[Aquattro]

Ken, my advice would be to throw out that watts per gallon rule all together. What do you want to keep and what will you be keeping it in?

[AJ_77]

I agree with Brad, the other factors will decide how much light you'll need. If you want to see a pic of what I'm keeping under 2x55 PC and 2x30 NO fluorescents, let me know. It's a little surprising, but I should also add that a lighting upgrade is in the works...

[kuatto]

don't mean to interupt,but tried to view your site Alan and it doesn't work

[Scavenger]

Thanks for the quick response all!!! Nice pic's AJ_77!! Wow, I'd love to hear the stats on that tank.

Well OK the watts per gallon is out the window now. Gee maybe I should have opened it first, it's getting pretty drafty in here . Thanks Brad. Your question of what you want to keep and where is going is the major problem I have in choosing my lighting at this point. Sit back, this might take a while to explain.

I am planning on taking a very un orthidox approach to my reef construction. It was inspired by my dive experience under the pier at St. Cruix in the Virgin Islands. The reef structure there was quite unique as it was a flat (ish) sand bottom with scattered rock pile reefs and debris reefs in what I can only describe as islands of rock on a sand sea. Each had it's own characteristics and varied inhabitents. This I beleive was due to shape, size, and where in relation to the pier it was for lighting.

So all said, if my lighting idea works, I am hoping to make a tank of 48"X48"X20" appox 200gal.
I will start with one small reef and add more as I can afford LR and corals.
Each small reef will have it's own lighting, probably spotlight pennant style. The strength of which will be determined by that reefs inhabitants.

The overall tank light would be NO antinic with spot lights of 50/50 PC or MH depending on the corals of the perticular reef. This entail, larger numbers of smaller lights. That would be purchased when needed and can be afforded.

My thoughts are this would be visually pleasing, and offer the benefit of custom tuning the various lights for the inhabitents it iluminates.

I will have a wet dry filter that will have bio beads phazed out as I aquire more and more LR. This way, I will build or expand each reef as I can afford it and not have to buy all lighting and LR in one bank busting move.

Any thoughts on this?? I'm new to reefing and would hate to see it all go KA-BOOM I know it may be hard to envision from this description but any feed back is welcome.

[Son Of Skyline]

Sounds pretty cool to me! With a tank that big though, I wouldn't even be asking about pc lighting. It's gotta be MH all the way

[Aquattro]

I would also go MH, but that's me. Using PC as a base light and then puttig MH pendants over each bommie would be good. Sounds like anice setup!

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Scavenger

I am hoping to make a tank of 48"X48"X20" appox 200gal..

is that 48 tall or front to back?

Steve

[Scavenger]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

is that 48 tall or front to back?

Steve

Whoops thats 48"longX 48"wideX20"tall

[AJ_77]

If that's a shallow 'cube' tank (LxWxH), it sounds really cool. You'll get good penetration with the MH pendants, and I like the idea of separate small "reefs" within the tank. That's the shape I've been curious about for a while, can't wait to see what you do with it.

(If you looked at my old pics linked, I apologize. My newer tank is the one I mentioned, but thanks anyways - they're both on the lower end of the lighting scale though... Got to update that website!)