Is this lighting sufficient?

[stradt03]

I have a 150 FOWLR that has 120lbs of LR.com rock and 60 of HIrocks.com rock in it.

as for ligthing I have two coral life 6000K 50/50 Actinic bulbs, is this enough to support my tank? I'm clueless on lighting.


thanks
Jason

 

[steve-s]

If it's a 2x96w, you'll be okay for coralline but little else. You'll also have a bit of a dim area at the ends of the tank.

Cheers
Steve

 

[stradt03]

i looked on hte back of the housing for the bulbs, it said it was a 120v and 38 watt. does that mean i can only put bubls in it that are 38 watt and below?

 

[steve-s]

Doesn't sound like you have PC bulbs actually. Is the bulb a single long (wider tube) with prongs at each end or a double bulb with prongs at only one end?

A 38w PC ballast would mean your light would be restricted to a 28w bulb which seems kinda odd.

Cheers
Steve

 

[stradt03]

it is a wider tube with prongs at each end. does that help?

 

[steve-s]

With a 38w ballast, it's a normal output fluorescent tube. So basically 80w on a 150 gal tank which are fairly deep and long. You may have some success keeping the coralline happy at the higher area's of the tank but don't expect much more than that.

Cheers
Steve

 

[stradt03]

ok well can i put a different bulb in the ballast and keep coraline happy on the LR that is near the bottom of the tank?

 

[steve-s]

Unfortunately no. The ballasts you have will only fire a 40w bulb. You can however upgrade the ballasts to run VHO bulbs instead which would increase your output quite a bit. If your 150 is a 60x24x24, you can get an appropriate ballast to fire 2x140w VHO which would make your tank much more diverse in what it can sustain. Inlcuding low light softies.

If your up on your electrical knowledge, a Fulham Workhorse 7 would work on these and would be cheaper than buying from an LFS.

Cheers
Steve