Lighting for 36-gal FOWLR tank?

[bpeitzke]

We have a 36-[acronym:a8f7d8eb13="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:a8f7d8eb13] [acronym:a8f7d8eb13="Fish only with live rock"]FOWLR[/acronym:a8f7d8eb13] tank with 5 fish & lots of [acronym:a8f7d8eb13="Live rock"]LR[/acronym:a8f7d8eb13]; one piece has some interesting little macroalgae growing. I'd like to encourage this, hoping it's good for our tang. We have two Helios T5 fluorescent fixtures, but one's been burned out for a while. These use 28w bulbs, one white, other blue (the burned out one).

I was shopping for a replacement bulb, but found the best deal looks like getting a fixture/bulb from commodityaxis.com. Before buying I thought I'd ask the experts what lighting would be best for fish, viewing, and encouraging plant growth. Are these T5's good for our tank? Are two 36" fixtures optimal?

Appreciate any advice.

[acronym:a8f7d8eb13="Thanks in Advance"]TIA[/acronym:a8f7d8eb13]

Bob Peitzke

I only use regular fluorescent bulbs and they grew algae in my tank. The long hair green ones. And they are nuisance. Feed the Tang Nori or something.

But for [acronym:e1cd5affd1="Fish only with live rock"]FOWLR[/acronym:e1cd5affd1], you might want to save your money from expensive lighting. Regular fluorescents should be just fine. You might want to do a [acronym:e1cd5affd1="Power compact fluorescent"]PC[/acronym:e1cd5affd1], but why? Now, for plant growth, are you pertaining to live see weeds or something? Or did you just want algae. Because the algae will grow weather you like it or not, whether you're using cheap lights or not.

I just spent 3 hours cleaning my tank from those green hair algae. Fish doesn't like them. Maybe only 1 type of Tang would like it and I forgot what it was. Keep your tank away from sunlight and run 10 hours of regular fluorescents in it for a few days, you will get your algae. [acronym:e1cd5affd1="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:e1cd5affd1]

[LittlePuff]

Go to Walmart and get a flourescent hanging shop light for under $10.

Kim

[Hara]

I buy my bulbs from foster & smith. They have a great warranty with them and I have always been pleased. You might want to check out their t-5 bulbs and get ones suitable for what you need.