Lighting Decisions

[CJ Guy]

I was just wondering which would be a better one to get out of these two, because I was so sure on getting the flourescent lighting but now i'm also looking into PC's. So now i'm not sure on whether to get a PC or Flourescent style of lighting. I am planning on having a reef tank ( including an anemonea down the line) with fish.

The choice that I was going to get for the PC was the: 72" Orbital PC lights with 2x96w dual daylight and 2x96w dual actinic with 6 lunar lights

As for the flourescent light: it was going to be the: 72" Coralife LUNAR Aqualight Deluxe Series

Well any input would be helpful. Thanks


Chris

[CJ Guy]

Bump

[Konrade]

How many gallons is your tank? 125, 150, what? You don't have a powerful enough light for an anemone Recccommendation for keeping corals is having a light with at least 4 watts per gallon. If you planning on having high llight corals then go with metal halides. If you want low to moderat4e lighting corals go with PC's, as they are cheaper but don't produce as much light. Normal output fluorescent lighting fixtures don't have enough light output to keep corals in my opinion. If you plan on doing a reef tank, do A LOT of research before you jump right in. You eill also need waterflow. Do you have any ph's? If not get some. You will also want about 1-2 pounds of lr per gallon. It's expensive but worth it! Great source of filtration. Also a PC is a fluorescent with higher output and longer life. I cannot stress enough how important it is to read read read! Do tons of research. Good luck and HTH!

[seafan]

Out of those two, go with the pc's. Think of MH's as an investment for the future.

[CJ Guy]

Ya konrade my tank is 125 gallons and I guess for the anemone i'm just going to have to wait down the line when I get the MH light, since all this is just starting up I know it will still be a while down, but I was just wondering how intense the lighting would have to be for the anemone. I shall go with the PC since I know that it can still house a good amount of corals. And of course I know about doing my research before jumping into something like this, I mean after all you don't jump into an ocean if you don't know how to swim correct? As for PH's i'm planning on getting 2 turbelle streams with a multicontroller so I would have circulation being produced on both ends.

Ya seafan I guess i'm going to have to go with the PC since I figure dropping 1 grand on lighting right now is WAY to much after all the other things that must be purchased first. Later down the line after the tank is established and I got everything finalized and will then add the anemone is when I will get the MH lighting. But i'm sure a PC will do a good enough job temporarily with some of the corals it can handle. Thanks


Chris

[Phyl]

I would go with a PC retrofit. That way you can still use them for actinics when you've got your MH on the tank. If you buy a pre-assembled fixture then you would have to tear it apart to use the lights/ballasts with your MH. Not worth the hassle. Save some money now and just get the retrofits. (lights without the box that you install into your canopy). You'll be able to support some corals with the 2x96 PCs. I had 4x65 over my tank for a long time and my corals did great with it.