lighting question?

[juice28]

Ive been reading alot on lighting, and im stuck on one part...I see the wats per gallon alot and i also hear about the "k" now whick is more important the "K" or the wats?

 

[Ziggy953]

Well let me confuse you a bit more. What you are really looking for is PAR. The K rating refers to the color temperature of the light the bulb produces. For example, a 20,000K bulb is very blue in color where a 10,000K is very white. The watts per gallon rule is somewhat outdated. A watt of PC lighting is not equal to a watt of Metal Halide lighting so the rule is flawed. Typically the higher the K rating of a bulb the less PAR it gives you. Look at PAR as the intensity of the bulb and how well it penetrates the water. Lower the K number = higher PAR value.

The amount of lighting for your tank is dependent on what you want to keep. Corals, clams and anemones require more light then a fish only tank.

 

[melosu58]

Are you looking at any type lighting or still looking? What corals do you have or are planning on getting?

 

[juice28]

id like a couple brains and maybe a carpet anemonae(sp) i have a couple mushrooms already that i picked up as hitchhikers, im still looking for lighting I had a used t5 but ya get what ya pay for at times lol. i was actually looking for an alternative to the specific "aquarium light".. i.e. I have a snake with a heat lamp, bulb and a dome for it, not at petco the whole thingis like $35 and up, i went ot home depot and got the same dome encasing for like 6 bucks and just bought the bulb...

 

[Ziggy953]

Lighting is one of the things in this hobby that you can't skimp on. To get the right spectrum you are going to have to get aquarium bulbs. T5 is a very good option for lighting a reef tank. I have a combination of T5 VHO and MH lighting on my 120g tank.

 

[juice28]

its getting to be more confusing the more i learn lol

ok, this is my tank, one pic is older than the other but you can see the depth of the tank..what type of lighting or kelvin par rating do you recomend

 

[Ziggy953]

Really the lighting boils down to what you want to keep. Because of the depth of that tank you are going to have to either get stronger lighting or build a rock structure that gets the corals you want higher in the tank. Not knowing the dimensions of the tank I would think you could find a T5 fixture with 4-6bulbs that would do a fine job of lighting the tank. You could also go with a DE(double ended) MH fixture with actinic supplement.

 

[melosu58]

Because of how high the tank is I would suggest T5`s or MH`s. T5`s would probably be the cheaper of the two.