A few quick questions about livesand and lighting

[kidtokyo]

Question 1:
I have a crushed coral substrate in my 20 gallon.
Can I add livesand to it?
Does livesand need special lighting?

Question 2:
Ive seen florescent lighting at places like petsmart that seem to be marketed towards saltwater, saying things like "atinic" and stuff, and are usually like $22.00 compared to the $10.00 standard bulbs.

What benefits will those give me compared to standard aquarium lighting?
Will purchasing one of those bulbs enable me to get a larger variety of fish/critters?
In addition, if I put a standard light and one of those fancy lights next to each other, will that open up more possibilities?

Im new at all of this, so when I say possibilities I just mean different types of things like sea anenomes, liverock, star fish, crabs, shrimp.

Thanks again!

Eric

 

[michealprater]

if your crushed coral has been in your tank with live rock for awhile it is also "live". the bulbs you are refering to are definatly better than standard lighting. if you have a two bulb setup you can go with a 5500k and a atnic. or if you only have one bulb to utilize try a 50/50, which is a mix of white and actnic light.

 

[fishfreek]

Live sand does not need any form of lighing.

You could add live sand to your cc substrate BUT you need to be aware that over time the cc will come to the surface and the sand will settle to the bottom layer. An ideal sand bed would be made up of particles sugar grain sized by majority.

Actinic lighting is the light that is deep blue/purple in color. Its simular in apparance to a black light but its NOT a black light. Actinic bulbs have the majority of their color spectrum in the 420mn range (i thiink this is correct with out looking it up).

All other blubs have a spectrum assocated with it. This is also called the "KELVIN" rating. The higher the rating the more blue light is present in the bulb. You have 5500K, 6500K, 7200K, 10000K, 20000K etc. I personally prefer 10000K and actinic combo of lights. That would be two bulbs one at 10000K and one at Actinic.

Two lights on your 20 will give you a wopping 38W (i think the bulbs are 18W each) of light. This is 1.8W of light per gal. If you want to keep corals and yes sea anenomes are a form of coral then you need MUCH more light than that.

You can get more light by using Power Compact Florecents, VHO or Metal Halide blubs.

 

[loganj]

lights

Should you decide to upgrade your lights, look around on the net before you buy. I think you will find better prices that way.
www.ahsupply.com
www.championlighting.com
www.hellolights.com
These three sites will give you an idea what kind of money you can expect to spend and also what is available.
Logan J