Lighting- has anyone tried the lights of america model 9266

[cougaran]

I saw a guy on ebay modified one and is selling them, so i looked it past posts in this forum and then chked the lights of america website. It doesnt seem clear if anyone is using them for their main tank? If you are using them could you PLEASE post. I have a 90 gal and im going to need one for each side. They are 65 watts of power but 500 watt equivalent. That would be 1000 watts, it seems like alot of light for the price. I just hope it's not too much for the poor fish.

 

[fishfreek]

I belive loganj was using them over some growout tanks. When they are compairing the watts its most likly compairing it to what an incadecent bulb would generate. I think these lights are halagen bulbs.

 

[cougaran]

The lamp is a 65 watt compact fluorescent lamp, rated to deliver 4550 brightness lumens (70 Lumens Per Watt) and is 6500 degrees Kelvin (same as sunlight at noon in the tropics). Im just wondering if anyone is using them and has had sucess with them. I'm not looking to grow the expensive corals, just keep the liverock alive and to see the fish as cheap as possible.

 

[Hara]

high lighting is not needed to keep live rock "live"...."live" refers to the bacteria on the rock. Seeing the fish can be done with normal output lights. My concern would be the algae growth with 6500k bulbs.

 

[cougaran]

If liverock is the way the to go then I'm wondering if this claim by one of the people on ebay selling liverock is true, "Don't forget that to grow a strong purple coralline algae (purple, green and red rock growth) you must have the necessary lighting consisting of 4watts per gallon of water as a rule of thumb and necessary trace elements of Iodine, Strontium, Molybdenum and liquid Calcium! These are the big trick all the true reef and saltwater hobbyists growing extremely beautiful live rock are doing and understand! "
I posted part of this in another post, but i want to buy LR and keep it growing. I want it to spread to other non-liverock rocks or baserock i intend to put in the tank. And my biggest concern of course is cost.

 

[Hara]

coraline algae and "liveness" on the rock, are two different things. If you want coraline algae, then yes, you need decent lighting. The rock does not "grow". The algae grows to cover the rock. The beneficial bacteria that is wanted for filtration will multiply light or no light. Do not confuse the functionality of rock as the filtration system with rock that is pretty to look at. It does not have to have all the encrusting in order to be LIVE.

 

[cougaran]

That does clear up the two a little bit, I understand a bit more and remember another post about the de-nitfriciation process to remove nitrate from the water due to lack of oxygen. But if i can have the best of both worlds with some nice looking live rock in the tank then why not. It would simulate the enviroment better for the fish and would remind me of my snorkeling in the keys

So then my thoughts of say 40 lbs of good live rock and say 80lbs of baserock in the 90 gal tank would be a good filtration system to start with, coupled with a Whisper 5( does 375GPH), decent protein skimmer and 3 powerheads for circulation. I can always add more later.

But the question that remains is anyone using these lamps and bulbs with any sucess? Will it be good enough for the Coraline algae and keeping the live rock going well? Or is the light possibly too bright and i might end up with some nice green algae live rock and nothing else.

 

[MT79]

Or is the light possibly too bright a

That I can guarantee will not be the case. Have you ever saw MH lighting?? You can get a suntan w/ them. It's the K (temperature) of the bulbs you have to watch. I wouldn't use any lamps less than 10k unless they were MH and made by a reputable manufacturer or you may end up w/ green algae LR.