Coral lighting

[IceTurf]

and 50/50 10k and ar(srry i forget spellin) blue lights?

[michika]

I guess what I would ask you is what are you trying to accomplish with your lighting and what are you keeping under it?

[IceTurf]

actually i'm setting up a new tank, and i'm just figuring out what corals i can have depending on what lights I can get for a decent price

[IceTurf]

I'm personally aiming for *yes your guessed it, well maybe not* "acropora" frags and or SPS in general.

[IceTurf]

hmm oh yes and currently I'm leaning towards these http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod...tm_term=209268
bulbs as they are fewer $'s then the other ones and they work for my tank top/light system

I was reading about a few 14k 50/50 bulbs, well more accurately tank packages, and the match I found closest to those bulbs were the ones above so thoughts?


Currently I have one 6.7k compact fluorescent bulb.

[michika]

With those bulbs the best you could keep is probably softies, some zoas, some LPS, and MAYBE some forgiving SPS. The intensity isn't enough to keep the vibrant colors that most SPS have, it may also hinder their growth.

[IceTurf]

so, just maxing out all possibilities here, what would be a rated bulb/stats of a bulb for acropora corals? (other then metalh's)

[michika]

For SPS, you can try either metal halide lighting, or overdriven T5s. T5s are popular in Europe and gaining popularity here.

[IceTurf]

does the mh bulb matter? T5's are just fluorescent's, what makes them better then the other 10k fluorescent bulbs?

[mark]

First understand there's lots and lots of variables (tank depth, clarity of water, bulb spectrum, efficiency, etc, etc) but to get an idea of total wattage required for rough estimate purposes of coming up with a budget for lighting a tank with photosynthetic corals, use 5 watts/gallon.