Lighting my Marine Tank

[mitch69]

I have currently got a Jewel Rio 180 tank, which is lit by two 30watt flourescent tubes (one Marine White & One Marine Blue), I would like to increase my lighting so that I can successfully keep soft corals.

Any Tips????

 

[Atari]

I recently saw some new fangled accessory for Juwel tanks.. I think it's called the J-bar. Basically it replaces your NO fixture with a T-5 one. Pretty cool in my opinion as it fits perfectly and doesn't force you to make any changes to the appearance of the system.

You'd get 2x39watts for the Rio 180, which doesn't sound like a lot but the T-5's are surprisingly intense and IMO this will be enough for most softies.

The only problem I can think of is with heat since it's so close to the surface.

Other than that if you don't mind having lights sitting externally then I highly recommend Arcadia Luminaires. For about 75 quid more than the J-bar you can have 4x39watts T-5 and it sits about 8 inches above the water so there isn't as much heat.

BTW, wherabouts in Lancs are ya? I'm in Salford

 

[mitch69]

I'm in Preston.

Do the Luminaires not put a lot of light out into the room?

Any idea where you saw the J-bar???

 

[Atari]

Nah they don't really leak much light, but if your eye level is below them and you're going to be looking in that direction often then it might get a bit much. The cool thing is the front flap of the Rio actually fits perfectly if you lean it an angle against the luminaire.

I saw the J-bar on the website of an LFS, I don't know if they are in stock yet since they just came out.

Urmston Aquatics

I'd still recommend the Luminaire since you're getting double the light for not a lot more. I'm not sure if this LFS is the cheapest for those though.

 

[Atari]

Hmm just checked and the J-bar is £130 compared to £225 for the luminaire so I guess that's quite a difference.

 

[BBReef]

i would get more than just the two. t-5s dont really go all that deep. we have 5 18w on a 25 (2 10k 3 actinics) and the two leathers torwards the bottom arnt doing well. all the shrooms seem to be fine though. but if u want more softies, the 4 would be better than just two imo.