Lights

[cd5]

Is 130watt power compact too much for a 20 gallon tank, I want to go into corals later so I want to try and keep my options open but I don't want to get two much light
thanks in advance

 

[sparkchaser]

130 watts would work out fine for a 20 gal, that gives you 6.5 watts/gal, if you follow those rules. Is this a 2 bulb fixture with a 10K and an Antinic? You should be able to keep most corals without a problem.

 

[poriceboy]

130 watts would work out fine for a 20 gal, that gives you 6.5 watts/gal, if you follow those rules. Is this a 2 bulb fixture with a 10K and an Antinic? You should be able to keep most corals without a problem.

So is 6.5w/gallon the mininum guideline we should follow for lights?

 

[sicklidkid]

No, you can keep many corals easily in 3wpg and some even lower than that. With 6.5 wpg you can keep softies, LPS, some types of clms(i think...), and maby some SPS near the very top of your tank(once again, i think). But with 3 wpg you can keep alot of softies.
HTH

 

[cd5]

sparkchaser - yes they are, i wasgoing to buy the coralife from hellolights.com

 

[seafan]

I've heard lots of opinions on lights. I want to buy a one of these do it all light hoods for a fifty gallon reef tank with inverts and live rock. It has 2*65 watt day actinic light bulbs, and 2 moon lights. You can find it at
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=CU01021&ast=&key=

I personally don't think its enough, but I'm not good at installing things. Can you help me find an alternative system, with little or no assembly required.

 

[sparkchaser]

Seafan,
What size is your 50 gal tank? That light that you looked at is only a 24 inch kit, and no it won't be enough light. A system with little assemble? This is what I have on my 55 gal, I didn't want to look at the light fixture, so I bought a standard oak hood from Petsmart, And then added the Coralife 4x65watt retrofit kit, 2 10k and 2 ant. bulbs. The hood was $99 and the light was $180. And no there isn't much work to install the light, I think it was only 6 screws to screw in, and that was it. On the other hand if you want to see the fixture then you can get the standard Coralife 4x65 light in its own fixture for only about $200 at Captive Reefs.