lighting for a little 15 gallon high.

[fishmonkey]

so, would i be able to get some of the easier corals like zoas and mushrooms and such with 60 watts of light over it (as the minimum, that is)? that would be 4 watts per gallon. plenty, right? probably just go with some coralife light or something....

 

[pat8you]

60 should be good over a tank that size for the coral you want. just try to get the light off the water a couple inches so it doesn't cause to much of a heat fluctuation

 

[fishmonkey]

yeah, i know. ive just never been too good at the amount of wattage thing.

 

[Jaybird]

with 4W per gallon you could keep just about anything in it, depending on placement of the corals. Well, assuming that you have the proper spectrum bulbs.

 

[fishmonkey]

yeah. hmm, so i could pretty much have anything?
what couldn't I have?

 

[fishmonkey]

help me light my 15 gallon tall?

okay guys, i want to make a lighting fixture for my little 15 gallon tall. I already posted another thread, and figured out that Ill make it 65 watts or more. How could i go about doing this. i would need a ballast, so how would i make this thing?

 

[jsoong]

SW or FW?

Your most economical route is to get a 65W PC retrofit kit, like this:
36 or 55 watt Bright Kits

You can buy the ballasts & endcaps, etc. separately, but it will cost you more. You will need everything you see in that kit to make your fixture, so unless you have some spare parts lying around, I suggest getting the kit. <BTW, 65W & 55W PC's are *usually* interchangeable. Although if you want to use the AH kit to light a 65W, you should check that the ballast included is rated for 65W. They use Fulham electronic ballasts that should work, but you might want to check the ballast number before buying in case they change their setup.>

A much less efficient (light output per watt) is to use CFL's. You can build your own canopy & wire in 3 standard medium base light sockets. Then run 3 22W CFL's. But without reflectors, and with the spiral CFL's, you prob will only get half the light into the tank compared to a PC. <This is not an option for SW, as there is no such thing as Actinic CFL ...> Also, 22W CFL's (that I can find) only comes in BR30 or 35 size (fits large pot lights). Those won't it inside a standard canopy, so you have to build you own oversized canopy to house them.

 

[Jaybird]

not sure. With the right spectrum you could keep acros and some other SPS. 15Gs aren't too deep, so the light will penetrate.

 

[thominil]

Depends on the kind of light. T5 HO would allow you to keep anything you wanted over that tank, but it sounds like PC to me from the wattage in which case nems and most my guess is SPS would be off-limits too.

Watts-per-gallon has very little importance now in sw, factors like PAR and penetration are more important.

 

[fishmonkey]

good point thom. forgot about that. T5 HO might be bit expensive though... hmm ill look into it

 

[melosu58]

That type lighting over that size tank will be about moderate or medium lighting. Most LPS and soft corals and moderate light sps corals.

 

[fishmonkey]

so just get a retrofit kit cuz its cheaper?

 

[melosu58]

Both threads merged together.