Coralife Screw-In Bulbs

[Rxblade123]

I've seen some of those bulbs in the LFS, the 50/50 15 watt ones, and I was wondering if you could use 2 of those for a SW reef tank.

 

[Salttanker]

As long as they are designed for SW it should be fine. I have seen a lot of bulbs in the lfs that are incandescent, which are more for reptiles. But, if it says 50/50 and made by coralife, then it should be ok. Of course it really depends on how big the tank is too. 15 watts doesn't go too far unless the tank is really small.

Mike

 

[Rxblade123]

I would put it on a 10 gallon.

 

[Salttanker]

That should work. What do you plan on keeping?

Mike

 

[Rxblade123]

Some kind of corals but im not sure if it would work. DOes anybody know if I can grow Corals with that light?

 

[Salttanker]

If you are planning on doing corals, then I would go with pc lighting. NO bulbs probably won't work in this case. You can get a pc hood for pretty cheap online. I bought one for my sump and it works well. It has one 10K and one actinic. I think it was around $60 for 65w of lighting.

Mike

 

[Rxblade123]

Was it 20"? I haven't found any that long with that much light only 28, 40, 80, or 96.

 

[Rxblade123]

Oh I have another question, but I don't want to open another topic, so here it goes.
Is there a type of coral that is very easy maintence and can thrive in low light? About 1-3 WPG. I'm thinking about making a FWLR, but I really wanted a corals so is it possible to just have maybe on coral on low light?

 

[ellisz]

You can use the screw in bulbs as long as the as the lights meet the requirements for the corals you want. I use a 20 watt 50/50 version of that bulb in my 5 gal minibow. I believe the ones you see in LFS are only 10 watts. The 20 watt version can be had at Big Als for about the same price as a 10 watt locally.

I think the incandescent hoods for a 10 gal can acually be converted to a dual light fixture hood rather easily. I have read that the fixture in the hood is a dual screw in fixture but the other side is covered up. You would have to move it to a center location and reposition the reflector. This is how it is in my 5 gal mini bow but I only use the one bulb.

28 watt fixtures can be had pretty cheap for a 10 gal though. This would be enough for some low light corals but I would try to get something brighter. You will want more corals at some point

 

[Rxblade123]

Yea, I probably would want more corals at some point, but now I can't get too many. I want to have more experience before I move on to more corals. I would probably be getting a better set up for a reef aquarium during or after college. Could you name some corals that would be suitable for low light? I want to do a little research on them.