want to start reef keeping

[scottytoohottie]

hello , I decided to take my tax returns and but some beginner corals. i have not bought them yet. I have a 50g tank with live rock and sand. i was unsure what lighting to have for coral, i have a 17w hg lite now. any suggestions on beginner corals the are not too aggressive? thanks

 

[bawel]

what is HG lite? There are plenty of beginner corals to start with, but I don't know if any your lighting any good. You have 50G and your light is only 17W? I think there is something wrong there.

 

[ccCapt]

You have 1 17w (what's hg?) bulb over a 50g tank? No corals will thrive with that minimal amount of light, except non-photosynthetic corals like sun polyps.

 

[melosu58]

I agree not enough light.

 

[scottytoohottie]

lighting for reef tank

thanks for the input but what is good for lighting the 50g. i have 2 T6 superlux 20 watt bulbs one dual day actinic and the other is a color intensifier. For corals what do u suggest?

 

[melosu58]

You`ll need to have at least 3 watts per gallon. Some good light systems to have would be Power compacts, VHO`s, T5`s or MH`s.

 

[Tank2379]

what is HG lite?

(what's hg?)

I take it he has hanging lights?

 

[Dr_Doom2]

I was looking at the hood that came with my Oceanic 50g show. The light bulbin mine is a 17watt normal output flourescent but mine has HG stamped on it with a circle around it. I think its a brand name or a particular line of bulbs for that brand.

 

[nanoluvr]

50 gal?....I would look at possible a 250w MH of some sort, and maybe some CF Actinics. there sre numerous manufacturers that make all in one fixtures for this.

Or...you could go with a T 5 fixture w/ daylight and actinics

Good beginner corals...button polyps, zoanthids, star polyps, mushrooms

 

[Patroklos]

I am not sure how big your tax return is but when I started reefing I went with this the Nova Extreme Pro T5 fixture for just over $300. It is just fine for most corals and can get you by with SPS reasonoably well.

The thing about lighting in my experiance is that I would rather go a little overboard that under. If you start reefing and then stick with it it can really hurt your pocket book to have to buy a second fixture. I wouldn't go crazy, but don't go cheap either.

 

[scottytoohottie]

Cool thanks, what do u think about coralife lunar aqualights compact florescent strip lights theres two 65 watt bulbs,on the one i looked at Dr. foster n smith. would this work? everyware i looked they only have 130 watt total for 24inch, thats what will fit on my 50 g tank.

 

[scottytoohottie]

Lighting for reef

Cool thanks, what do u think about coralife lunar aqualights compact florescent strip lights theres two 65 watt bulbs,on the one i looked at Dr. foster n smith. would this work? everyware i looked they only have 130 watt total for 24inch, thats what will fit on my 50 g tank.[/quote]

 

[Ziggy953]

If you have the ability to do a little diy work you can easily use a MH over the tank. Not knowing the measurements off hand of a 50g tank I think you could get away with a single 175w MH bulb with some T5 actinic supplement and have just about any kind of coral you want.

Lighting is only part of the whole picture you are going to need increased flow for corals as well.

 

[nanoluvr]

If you have the ability to do a little diy work you can easily use a MH over the tank....


Yeah, I agree Ziggy. MArinedepot.com sells a DIY MH kit that comes w/ a 250W ballast, 6500k bulb (would need to buy like a 14k), and some other pieces for like $120.00 or so, I think. I saw it in my catalog the other day..