compact flourescent lamps

[cloudxsoldier]

Hi again,

I have a pre-manufactured tank (platic hood with built in lighting case, filter etc) that accomodates for compact flourescent lamps. The case is an Aqua-one 620T - roughly 38 Gallons. Slap me on the wrist if you must!

I've done alot of reading about lighting for the possibilty of adding corals down the track. I read a large article on lighting which pretty much stated that all pre-manufactured tanks of this nature simply cant accomodate reef due to the poor lighting options they provide.

But then at the end of the article it breifly mentions this type of light and says that one 9-watter can be equivalvent to 75 watts. I didn't really understand this. Here is a link to the article: Reef System Lighting - What to Buy and Why - Using Power Compacts

TLDR: Can I do much reef keeping with two compact flourescent lamps in a 39 Gallon tank. Currently I have a 18Watt Marine Blue and a 50/50 something that I'm unsure of. (came with the tank)

Excuse my lack of knowledge on the subject

 

[ccCapt]

CFL's are OK for some low light soft corals like mushrooms, zoas and maybe some leather corals. It may also be enough to keep some LPS alive for a while, but they won't really grow and thrive. They definitely won't work for SPS corals.
Wattage is somewhat irrelevant. With reef tank lighting we are more concerned with PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation). CFL's simply don't put out enough PAR.

 

[cloudxsoldier]

Thankyou for your response.

I really just want a torch coral but I don't want to get one if it's not going to be happy in the tank. I think I'll just have to be patient with what I've got for a while, continue to read and upgrade to a better more flexible tnak in the future.

Thanks again.

 

[Fishguy2727]

I ran my tank with only compact and had SPS, clams, etc.

A client of mine who had probably the second best looking tank I have seen had a Red Sea Max with compacts. He also had SPS and Clams without any issues.

It is not the type of bulb but the amount of light that matters.

 

[cloudxsoldier]

Well this tank only has room for two bulbs. and its a deep tank so I'm thinking that the two bulbs really isnt enough to do what I wanna do.

I'll pay a visit to my LFS guy today and have a chat to him about my options.