Lighting for coral and live rock

[paul baxter]

Hi Iwould like to keep some live rock and some soft coral in my tank.
I spoke the the man in the marine shop who I bought my tubes of.I have x3 florecent tubes in the hood of the tank, the one at the back of the tank is a 24" 13000k white the middle tube is a 24" actinic blue and the front tube is a 24" power glow full spectrum.These specs dont mean much to me, maybe you could tell me a little bit about them or point me in the right direction ,Any help would be much appreciated...Regards paul baxter

P.S. my tank depth from light fitting to the sand is 18" if thats any help

 

[Jonathan G.]

well it sounds like you got NO flourescents. As far as keeping live rock you dont really need light for it but if you want such things as corals or inverts to grow on it you may need more lighting, PC's will do. How big is your tank?

 

[paul baxter]

Hi my tank is 190 L .corner tank with a bow front.Its dimension are 23"H 38"bow front and 27" sides.
Hope this is some help
regards paul baxter

 

[Clown Monarch]

What size are the ballasts for those fluourescents? Is the ballast the size of a battery or a breadbox? A Breadbox is good in this instance.

 

[paul baxter]

Hi johnathan
With being brand new to fish keeping I am not sure what NO and PC and CF mean when it comes to lighting could you please give me a little bit more detail....Regards Paul baxter

 

[paul baxter]

Hi clown monarch,I think it is just a small ballast dimensions are 3" square.In the manual it says the ballast uses 98% of the energy provided.Also could you please explain what CF and PC and NO mean when it comes to lighting as I am brand new to fish keeping and I think it maybe be an american terminology....Regards Paul baxter...

 

[mjvincent]

PC is power compact lighting (puts out more light than an NO normal output fluorescent) http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro/power_LUNaqualight.html

CF (compact fluorescent is the same thing).

I am new to these lighting issues (pc, cf and mh) I was into the hobby big time about 10 years ago and didn't have those things. How many watts are those tubes? Your tank is 50 gallons (roughly) and by this boards recommendations you should have 250 watts of lighting for keeping coral.