Lighting - Help.

[Steven A]

originally I was not bothered about my lighting because I didnt think I could get hold of soft corals or anemones etc.... However I was shopping yesterday and came accros a pet shop and I had time to kill so I explored this shop. I went to look at the aquatic section expecting just to see the common tropicals but I was amazed at what they had. To you guys it wont sound a big deal but there is no were in my area where I could of get this sort of stuff any way..... They have cleaner shrimps and loads of common clowns (tank bred) and other inverts like feather dusters and snails lol. All the cool stuff and even corals :O. I was amazed and well now want to be able to keep some of this stuff lol. Any way I know that I am going to have to upgrade lighting lol. (Still tropical atm) WI dont know how to upgrade it though; because it is just a normal florescent tube and the s/w tubes are only 15 Watts.

Please Help with lighting.

P.S. if providing links I would appreciate it if they were (UK) so I know exact cost etc...

Thank You.

 

[MikeyB]

Normal for coral you woudl want 2.5 to 5 watts per gallon.

 

[MarineFlake]

If your going to keep softies, shoot for 4 watts/gal. Anyway, your question is, how do you upgrade the lighting..There are 2 answers. First, if you are inclined, you can try and 'retrofit' your current fixture with pc, vho or mh fixtures. If wiring electrical things isn't your bag, try looking up some coralife, hamilton or any number of other fixtures that are almost plug and play. These fixtures typicaly come with or optionally have mounting brackets to replace your current top and lights. Having said that, you need to consider what you will be keeping when determining lighting needs. If its a softie tank (leathers, shrooms, zoos, etc) then pc or VHO would be ok with 4 watt/gal. If you want to keep SPS corals (Acropora, monitipora, clams, etc) then consider VHO as a min and look hard into MH lighting. Also keep in mind with an upgrade in light comes an upgrade in heat..

Peace.

 

[Steven A]

When it is said that to keep softies I will need about 4 watts per gal, would it work if I had a 20 Watt blue bilb and then a monn light bulp that was also 20 watts ?

 

[Guest]

The question I have is, what size tank do you have? What is your budget for upgrading? This would tell us what type of lighting would fit the tank and budget.

 

[garth7]

I am with Tim on this. The size of the tank and your budget (trust me you can never budget enough) will depend on what you will need.

Just a tip, I did a retrofit kit. (made my own hood ect.). This helped me save some money. I ended up getting my Metal Halides off of ebay.