Lighting

[saywill]

Ok, my cheap compact lighting just fried. I smelled it across the house. It is all charred up and I am glad I was home.
So, I am looking online for a new setup. I see a couple available that say they are compact 260 watt. 2 65 actinic, and 2 65 flourescent. Is this something I could use to possibly start getting some corals??

 

[bawel]

What size of tank do you have?

 

[saywill]

55 gal. the units are 48"

 

[bawel]

with the lighting you mentioned above, you can start with some mushroom and some polyps, depending of what kind of corals are you looking for.

 

[saywill]

I have no idea what I am looking for. I have been a fowlr for a long time!

 

[bawel]

i c. how about this. You go to visit www.liveaquaria.com and check the corals, you can see from there what is available for corals and how to maintain it, also with the lighting, if it needs stronger lighting, the choice of yours might not be sufficient, but there are plenty of corals that you can select with ur lighting. I would suggest you go to T5, instead of Compact Fluorescent if you want to have corals, or even Metal Hallide. If you have T5 or MH, you have more options of corals to choose from.

 

[saywill]

Thanks for the advise. Now I shop!

 

[austinsdad]

I've heard good things about T5's.

 

[Ziggy953]

Personally I would look at getting a 4x54 or 6x54w T5 fixture or retro kits if you are up for a little DIY. You will get better PAR from the T5s and the bulbs last much longer.

 

[GhostKnife]

T5 ...We almost had ourselves another Tracy Morgan did we? Glad all is well for your home however!

 

[melosu58]

I agree that your lighting will be much better with T5`s. But if you do get those you should be OK with most soft and LPS corals.

 

[saywill]

So would you guys think this one is ok??

48" 4ft T5 HO High Output Aquarium Light 216W 4 lamps - eBay (item 300294350306 end time Feb-26-09 06:17:40 PST)

 

[melosu58]

I`m not familar with the company but 216 watt HO T5`s looks pretty good to me.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

As you found out with your fried light, "cheap" lighting is well... cheap. And possibly dangerous. Unless the $$ are really tight, I'd kind of steer away from the no-name lighting and stick with a brand name.