How much light?

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hammerhead911

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 1, 2005
Messages
89
Location
Melbourne FL
I'm almost ready to set up my 65 gal. FOWLR, it's 36x24x18. The canopy is built so that a dual strip light will sit about four inches off the top glass covers. I know I want one blue actinic(sp?). My guestion is how powerful should the lights be? What kind of bulb/strength should the white one be, VO, HO? Thanks.
 
The best way to determine your lighting needs would be first to decide on what you will want to keep the most. Many types of corals will do well under HO style of fluorecents but if your goal is SPS or clams, you should look at MH lighting.

Cheers
Steve
 
If your going to be using the existing canopy, be sure to look into retrofit kits. For a 65 gal, I would suggest a <<2x96w retrofit fixture>>. It won't support much in the way of coral diversity but it will allow for great coralline growth and a few select low light corals.

Be sure if shopping online you place the order over the phone or at least call to discuss what your getting first. If you have all the measurements of your canopy written down when you call, the person should be able to tell you if it will work or not.

Cheers
Steve
 
I use to use a shoplight for my 90 gal, but that was freshwater. It would only use regular bulbs and had trouble lighting a more expensive bulb(can't remember what). I believe it has to do with the balast. I'm reseting up my 90 gal this month and I 'm going to give a try the Lights of America flourescent flood light. rated at 500 watts but uses only 65 watts. $30 at Homedepot. I might end up later using these and a combination of some other lights, we'll see. A few people on the forum are using these lights on their refugium tanks for a light source. This guy is using it on part of his coral propogation tank- http://www.reefcorner.com/prop_tank.htm

might be worth looking into, I'll be posting when i have mine setup and how the outcome of my desicion has been.
 
hammerhead911 said:
I was think about buying a shop light from home depot. Would this work or do I need something different.
If it remains a FOWLR, it shouldn't be too much a problem. It really depends on what you end up getting. The only downfall can be the color emitted by the light will often be quite yellow. Adding actinic bulbs would help. If you decide to move forward with coral some day, I would opt for a better light source.

Cheers
Steve
 
I just bought one Coralife 10,00K, and one Coralife actinic. This should be good right? I just wanted to save a little money on the fixture itself. Since it is completely covered be the wooden canopy, I figured an ugly shop light style fixture would work. Does this sound about right?

Thanks for all the replies. I hope to start cycling next weekend. :D
 
i used an ugly shoplight in freshwater and it rusted , over salt water i can only imagine it being even quicker. The other problem is that the shoplight may not be able to light the bulbs, it depends on the shoplight. Purchase one for the tank and try it, if it doesnt work take it back.
 
i used an ugly shoplight in freshwater and it rusted , over salt water i can only imagine it being even quicker. The other problem is that the shoplight may not be able to light the bulbs, it depends on the shoplight. Purchase one for the tank and try it, if it doesnt work take it back.
 
Rust would pose a major problem for a SW environment. I would get a regular plastic cover with a ballast. It is more expensive, but you don't have to worry about it rusting on you.

Mike
 
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