New Lighting, I Am So Excited

Fishguy52 · #1 05-26-2006, 03:39 AM

I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER OF A 4 X 96 WATT PC Hamilton Technologies Retrofit AND MAN IT IS SO SWEET. THE QUESTION IS NOW WHAT CAN I KEEP REALLY GOOD WITH THIS KIND OF LIGHTING. I ALSO HAVE A NO 40 WATT ACTINIC TO HELP OUT, THE TANK IS A 70 GAL THAT IS 51” L X 20” W X 16”H.
WOULD I BE ABLE TO KEEP CLAMS, THE TOTAL WATT IS 424 THAT’S LIKE 6 WATTS PER GAL.

OCDP · #2 05-26-2006, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fishguy52

I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER OF A 4 X 96 WATT PC Hamilton Technologies Retrofit AND MAN IT IS SO SWEET. THE QUESTION IS NOW WHAT CAN I KEEP REALLY GOOD WITH THIS KIND OF LIGHTING. I ALSO HAVE A NO 40 WATT ACTINIC TO HELP OUT, THE TANK IS A 70 GAL THAT IS 51” L X 20” W X 16”H.
WOULD I BE ABLE TO KEEP CLAMS, THE TOTAL WATT IS 424 THAT’S LIKE 6 WATTS PER GAL.

You can keep softies and LPS corals with PC lighting. I would definitely say no to clams.. they require as much light as possible, and PC's just don't cut it. I would stick to LPS and softies, nothing more. JMO. Not that you want to hear it now, but you should have just saved yourself the time and money and went with Metal Halide lighting. If you want to keep clams, that's the lighting you'll need. It's unfortunate , but PC's will not keep a clam alive and thriving. I would have went with halides, because it sounds like you know what you want to keep coral wise.. anyways, good luck.

Skimmerking · #3 05-26-2006, 08:07 PM

well you can actually keep clams in there. BUT the problem with PC lighting is the intensity doesnt stay in the bulb for a long period. hopefully Brad or Steve and DOug will chime in here to give a better example ,because i suck at it/...

OCDP · #4 05-26-2006, 08:10 PM

I am sure dersea's or something like that would be a better candidate for PC lighting. I should have said, clams such as maxima and crocea will not suvive (or thrive at least... ) under PC's . It's almost like torturing the clam IMO... keeping it "alive" is one thing, but having it thrive and grow is another. It's not fair to the clam.. I would say no to Crocea's and Maxima's .. And let's just say he did get one of those clams under PC, what's the point? You don't get to observe any of it's beauty. As we all know, the beauty is in it's colour, that super bright , intense colouration they have.. without halides there wouldn't be that intense colouration. It just doesn't make sense in any way to keep a clam like that under PC's.

midgetwaiter · #5 05-26-2006, 08:43 PM

Well no offense Scott but have you ever tried keeping a clam under anything but MH? It can be done and done well if some prior conditions like water quality and calcium availability are met. Unfortunately most people that try to keep a clam under PC are people that are newer to the hobby (haven't heard the MH ranting over and over again) and probably are not doing a very good of keeping the rest of their house in order.

You can keep a crocea or blue maxima with that setup you just need to maintain the intensity, like asmodeus said. I'm not directly familiar with the ballast used in that fixture so I can't give a really solid opinion but I'd bet you would have to change your bulbs about every 4-5 months to maintain the output. If that is a really good electronic ballast, and it probably is, that period would be longer but you can't get a good idea of how long without a PAR meter. As the bulbs age their output diminishes an tends to shift spectrum a bit. The phosphors that do actinic blue wear out especially quickly.

So you could do it, but it would pretty much be stupid expensive to replace the bulbs all the time. If you haven't used the thing yet maybe try returning it and getting a T5 fixture or something.

OCDP · #6 05-26-2006, 08:49 PM

I am sure it can be done, I don't doubt that..and no I haven't tried keeping clams under anything but MH, and that's the way I like it! But I have done enough reading on clams to know that they shouldn't be kept under PC's long-term.

The thing is, sure you can keep the clam alive under PC's, but will it thrive? I doubt it, it's just not the same intensity no matter what. I have no experience no, but I could make an assumption that higher light loving clams like crocea and maxima won't be too happy long-term under PC's.

Also, how often do you hear of people having a nice thriving beautiful clam collection under PC's ? If you do know of someone I'd love to hear about it. I have seen it with the T5's obviously.. but never PC's (and I am talking specifically about crocea's and maximas)

There's no sense in debating it really.. it's just my opinion. It's not fair to the clam really. But, I don't have experience so that's enough from me hah.