Saltwater Fish with reef - Lighting

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melissasreef

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jun 25, 2009
Messages
61
Location
Glenmont, NY
I have my 55 gallon tank set up for awhile now. I have succesfully kept the water in the proper perameters. I have introduced severl differant fish with everyone happy. I also have some crabs, snails, a feather duster, and 2 anemones. I want to begin to get some corals to enhance the live rock. I was use floresent bulbs in my canopy but was told by on person at the lfs that I needed to upgrade and he suggested 50/50 bulbs that would fit into my current hood. So, I went out and purchased them. Went back to the same lfs and the person working tonight says thay aren't strong enough for corals. Now I am confused and fustrated, working on a limited budget, and need some real life advice. Thank you
 
They are regular floresent Brand Zoo Med- reef sun 50/50. They are 15 watts and I have 2. Says on the pakage It is a combination os 6500k trichromatic day light phospher and actnic phosph in the same lamp. Provides high intensity full spectrum illumination, strong in the short wavelength blue essential for photosynthetic corals.

The tank is 48"long 13"wide, and 18 inches deep.
Although I have a 4"base of live sand and about 35 pounds of live rock. I have purchased one pink zoo polyp coral and that is doing fine. I have it on top of one of my large rocks and is less than 12' from the lighting.

I hope this helps
 
Welcome to AA. If they are regular flourecents then they wont make it. You`ll need some type of Power compacts at least. The ideal lighting would be T5`s or even MH`s. I use VHO lighting in my tank.
 
30w is not enough wattage for a 55g if you plan to keep corals. you would need at least 216w's of T-5 lighting to keep the zoa's thriving. Anemones would need even more light. The reason corals need so much light is that most have an algae called zooxanthellae that lives in a symbiosis with the coral and provides most of the food that the coral needs to survive. You not only need lots of wattage, but the light also has to have penetration power to get down to the coral. In short that is the reason for strong lights in a reef aquarium.
 
30w is not enough wattage for a 55g if you plan to keep corals. ... Anemones would need even more light. ...

Agree with the others and just want to point out that the two anemones that you already have won't last long under your existing lighting.
 
I have found this....
Aquarium Power Compact Light 130watts
CE Approved.
Approx Fixture Size: 47 1/4"L x 4 3/4"W x 2 1/4"H

Output:
  • 2x 65W PC. Straight pins configuration.
Feature:
  • CE approved.
  • German made light reflecter.
  • Non-corrosive coated housing.
  • Acrylic Shield.
  • Free Mounting legs.
Free bulbs:
  • 2x 65W 50/50 ( Half 12000K daylight, Half Actinic 460nm)
I know this is stort of the 216 watts mentioned below, but would this be a good enough improvement to keep my anemones healthy and the coral I already have. Also could this be stong enough to support a star polyp?
Thank you for your imput
 
Sorry, you won't be able to keep an anemone healthy with that amount of light. Wattage is not the only problem when it comes to compac flourescent lamps. They just don't have the PAR (intensity and penetration) for a 55g tank. As far as GSP's, if you put them a few inches from the light they might survive. Lighting is so necessary in a reef setting. If you buy the compac light system, you will soon be buying better lights as you try to keep LPS and/or SPS corals in the future.
 
Hey, I've gotta agree with everyone here. Your current lighting won't support any corals, and the PC fixture won't do much better.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sorry, you won't be able to keep an anemone healthy with that amount of light. Wattage is not the only problem when it comes to compac flourescent lamps. They just don't have the PAR (intensity and penetration) for a 55g tank. As far as GSP's, if you put them a few inches from the light they might survive. Lighting is so necessary in a reef setting. If you buy the compac light system, you will soon be buying better lights as you try to keep LPS and/or SPS corals in the future.

One has to wonder how any anemone ever survived in the hobby prior to the advent of the T5 and halogen eh
 
How about this...
T6 High Output Aquarium Compact Light 216 watts
Approx Fixture Size: 47 1/4"L x 7"W x 2 1/2"H



Output:
  • Advance T6 high output 54W x4, Total 216W
  • Dual lunar LED module x4.
Feature:
  • Individual power cords & power switches for T6 bulbs, and lunarLED.
  • German made light reflecter.
  • Non-corrosive coated housing
  • Mounting legs
  • Free Bulbs: 4x T6 HO 54W bulbs, 8x Lunar LED bulbs.
Bulb setting available in:
  • 2x 12000K Premium daylight. 2x True Actinic.ting close?
Am I getting close?
Thank you for your patience and advice
 
Lighting for a reef tank

I want to purchase the correct light for a reef tank with fish. On another posting someone recommended the T5, but I found this..
T6 High Output Aquarium Compact Light 216 watts
Approx Fixture Size: 47 1/4"L x 7"W x 2 1/2"H




Output:
  • Advance T6 high output 54W x4, Total 216W
  • Dual lunar LED module x4.
Feature:
  • Individual power cords & power switches for T6 bulbs, and lunarLED.
  • German made light reflecter.
  • Non-corrosive coated housing
  • Mounting legs
  • Free Bulbs: 4x T6 HO 54W bulbs, 8x Lunar LED bulbs.
Bulb setting available in:
  • 2x 12000K Premium daylight. 2x True Actinic
I would purchase it in the combination of bulbs listed at the bottom that has actinic bulbs. I want to do lps, and sps corals, and zoa and anemones.

Can someone tell me if this would work? I don;t want to buy something just to need to replace it later.

55gal - 48x13x18

Thank you
 
How about this...
T6 High Output Aquarium Compact Light 216 watts
Approx Fixture Size: 47 1/4"L x 7"W x 2 1/2"H




Output:
  • Advance T6 high output 54W x4, Total 216W
  • Dual lunar LED module x4.
Feature:
  • Individual power cords & power switches for T6 bulbs, and lunarLED.
  • German made light reflecter.
  • Non-corrosive coated housing
  • Mounting legs
  • Free Bulbs: 4x T6 HO 54W bulbs, 8x Lunar LED bulbs.
Bulb setting available in:
  • 2x 12000K Premium daylight. 2x True Actinic.ting close?
Am I getting close?
Thank you for your patience and advice
T-6 bulbs may be hard to find when you have to replace them.
 
I also have a feeling that T6 fixture is an Odyssea brand - not too great of customer experiences with that brand, if it is.

Regarding compact fluorescent lighting...

While it's not enough keep an anemone happy, if you have enough of it you can keep most LPS corals happy. In addition, a few SPS corals can do well under them, assuming you place them fairly high in the tank. Don't think you need T5 or metal halide to keep LPS/SPS corals, because you don't. But at the same time, don't think you're going to grow a thick forest of Acropora with them either!
 
Good point Kurt. It's all in what you want to grow. My view is in general that most new guys(gals) don't really know what they want to grow as far as Zoa's, LPS or SPS and will find themselves buying new sets of lights to meet the corals demand at allot of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to boot.
 
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