One bulb enough???

I will be starting a new 30 gallon with fish, LR, cleaner shrimp, snails, and scarlet reef hermits, but would eventually like to add some inverts like an anemone, feather dusters, sea star, or possibly a nudibranch or electric flame scallop. The hood that came with my aquarium houses 1 fluorescent bulb. Would a ZooMed Reef Sun fluorescent bulb provide sufficient lighting for these inverts? I'd REALLY like to avoid having to buy a whole new lighting setup to add additional bulbs.

[fishfreek]

The bulb that came with your tank is no where close to the amount of light you need for corals and anenomes.

For a 30 gal tank I would suggest maybe a pair of 96W power compact bulbs. Once at 10K and one at actinic.

If you want to avoid having to buy lights then your gonna have to really drop the idea of having corals and most definatly the idea of an anenome.

[reefrunner69]

I agree with fishfreak on the anemones and corals, but the LR and the anemone is the only critter you mentioned that needs light. It is debatable whether you have enough light for the LR, certainly not the anemone. Everything else, however, can be kept in the dark

I'm not using a plain fluorescent bulb that came with the aquarium- the bulb I was told to get to replace it is a ZooMed Reef Sun Fluorescent bulb. Won't this provide better lighting than just a regular bulb? Or is it still not sufficient for anemones & LR? Here are the specs on the bulb:

50/50 combination of 6500k trichromatic daylight phosphor and actinic 420 phosphor in the same lamp.
Ideal for marine aquariums, reef aquariums, African cichlids and discus fish.
Provides high intensity full spectrum illumination, strong in the short wavelength blue region essential for photosynthetic corals and invertebrates, balanced with 6500k daylight for natural color enhancement and viewing pleasure.

[MACATUA]

I have to agree here. I am using a PowerGlo in my tank, kinda the same idea. It is ok if you just want fish. Not sure how it will affect my LR yet. The LFS said it would be ok for LR, not the best but would function. But as far as anemones go, either shell out for the lights or get used to FO.

[reefrunner69]

The spectrum is good, but the intensity is not there. To increase the intensity you will have to increase the wattage.

Anyone know any places (online) that sell double light strips that would fit my hood for cheap? My hood is a Perfecto, 30" Thanks!

[reefrunner69]

A 30g should be 36" you will most likely have to use glass tops for a doubl light strip, and I would simply by a piece just wide enough to protect the lights and long enoug to sit on the lip of the aquarium, leaving the rest open.

My 30 gallon is 30" x 12" x 12" It is a 30 tall rather than a 30 long. Anyone know of any online stores that sell aquarium light fixtures for cheap???

[reefrunner69]

30 X 12 X 12 calculates to a little more than 18 gallons, you have a 20 gallon long aquarium

Oops!- It is 312X18, 29 gallons (not 30- I was off by 1 whole gallon). Either way, it is still 30" long, which is the important part.

So I take it no one is aware of any online stores that sell cheap light fixtures?

[reefrunner69]

Either way, it is still 30" long, which is the important part.

I suppose since you know the important parts, I'll just leave you to it

I personally think I would like to know the gallonage of my tank so I know how many gallons a 10% water change might add up to, or how much to dose for supplaments, but I am probably just old fashoned. You posted measurements for a 20g tank, I thought you might find it useful to know it was 20g, rather than 30g I had no way to know that you would mistype the measurements.

So I take it no one is aware of any online stores that sell cheap light fixtures?

Perhaps a google search for "fish supplies" or looking through the general retailers forum might help.

WOW!- I made a typo- I didn't realize you would take that to mean that I was being rude to you. By saying that the length of the tank is the important part, I'm referring to my original lighting question- which is about a 30" light fixture. I think maybe you're reading into it a little too much.

It's nice to know that as a newbie in the saltwater hobby, I can count on those with more saltwater experience such as yourself to patronize me and basically ridicule me with sarcastic comments when I make an error.

Beginner saltwater hobbyists should be able to come here and ask questions that may be considered common sense to those with experience without being made to feel stupid.

I would hope that as an administrator on this website you would have a little more patience with newcomers- that is what this particular forum is for. Remember- you were new at this once, too.

If all I had to do was run a google search for the answer to my questions, I would not have come to this website. I thought the whole point was to ask the "saltwater community" questions and get different people's opinions/experiences/knowledge about the hobby. Perhaps I was mistaken. I will take your advice and look elsewhere for answers to any of my further aquaria questions. Sorry to have inconvenienced you.

[reefrunner69]

It's nice to know that as a newbie in the saltwater hobby, I can count on those with more saltwater experience such as yourself to patronize me and basically ridicule me with sarcastic comments when I make an error.

Nah, it was the eyeroll emoty that pissed me off, also the important part in lighting is not the overall length of the tank, it's all of it put together. Actually the height of the tank is very important as well. Ridicule...hardly.

29 gallons (not 30- I was off by 1 whole gallon).

Either way, it is still 30" long, which is the important part.

As someone that donates tme to this site and money to keep it up, I think a litle respect is deserved, if you look through my previous 4400+ posts, I think you'll see I have earned more respect than you showed with those two statements. It's counterproductive to be a smartass when your looking for help

I would hope that as an administrator on this website you would have a little more patience with newcomers- that is what this particular forum is for. Remember- you were new at this once, too.

I was responding to your tone and attitude of your last post, when I was knew to this hobby I had respect for those that were trying to help me.

If all I had to do was run a google search for the answer to my questions

Google search for twin light strip Google is your friend

I also suggested you look through the general retailers forum on this site, did you do that?

[fishfreek]

www.hellolights.com is a website I like to get lighting supplys from. For a double strip light you could get it from just about any online store like www.thatpetplace.com or www.petwarehouse.com or www.bigals.com