Lighting

[vbsurfer87]

hello everyone i have just begun to buy things to start off this new found hobby of mine. I have bought a 20 gallon glass tanks made by aqueon and a 30 gallon aquaclear powerfilter and this weekend i plan on buyin live rock sand and of course water. I understand that lighting is a very important part of this hobby and was wondering what type of brands to look for.

 

[chuck116]

New myself,dont know much , but alot of people here help me and would like to return the favor. but i do know that metal halides are expensive to buy and run, and also give off alot of heat. but it seems that they give off the best light. Led lights are expensive but give off alot less heat. It seems vho or pc lights are the middle of the road between heat and light quality. It seems to depend on what you plan to keep in the tank. Good luck.

 

[Anselth]

Well, it really depends on what you intend to keep. On a 20 gallon tank, you can probably do fine with a bank of 4 T5s. The water isn't very deep, so most of the light will penetrate. If you're looking at t5 lights, look for a fixture that has individual reflectors for each bulb. If you decide to go metal halide, a single 150w bulb in the 14k or 20k spectrum should be plenty. You can pick up a 15ow pendant for relatively low cost, just try to get a setup with an icecap ballast. If you're not intending on keeping SPS corals or anemones somewhere down the line, you can go with power compact lighting. I suggest you research what you want to keep, then decide on your lights from there.

 

[naperenterprise]

Good answer Adam, you covered it all.

 

[stonedfish]

Hi. I just got the Current U.S.A. 24" Sundial setup. 1 cord, separate timers, the reflectors are not as good as a Tek light, but I like it. Its amazing the response I got with my corals after I got rid of power compacts. Maybe that helps.

 

[NATIVEVAMAN]

For initial start up and long term operational expenses you couldnt do much worse than metal halide.You can buy 6 really good t-5 bulbs for the price of two cheap metal halide bulbs and the t-5 will last 4 times longer.t-5 is a minimum of 30% cheaper to operate and could cheaper than that if you get an electronic ballast.As far as heat is concerned you can actually lay your hand on a t-5 fixture and not get burned.With metal halide you will be burned badly.Who needs all that heat?As for compact flourescents,they simply dont have the intensity to work well in tanks over 16 inch's deep.They are not as hot as metal halide but hotter than t-5.The best you can do for bulb life is about a year.In short compact flourescents are a technology that has been set aside by t-5.

 

[dfurbee]

Nativevaman is right. My corals came to life after changing to T5's. Also minimal heat. They are great lights.

 

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Something else I might add about t-5 lighting.With the multiple bulb arrangement you can tailor the lighting to not only make the tank look great but maximize coral growth.bulbs for t-5 can be found from 3000k to 17000k with many stops in between.

 

[mothergoose]

Native,
t-5s still great for a tank that is 25 deep?
thanks,
nina

 

[Aqua Pro]

Since you are using power filter make sure the water don't splash that much.

I use custom made LEDs and this give even more flexibility in the combination-they last virtually forever. My results are no less than MH if not better. :bluenod: But you just have to shell out a bunch(may be your arm) first. FI I want to can even pack the led to a point where they are couple times stronger than MH. Of course, you have to shell out even more at first(now your leg):cry1:

Also since it is a small setup, I like to use LEDs becuase I don't want to setup a chiller just for a small tank. Too much work. Too much hazzle.

 

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Nina,I think t-5 ho is good down to 19 inch's.Deeper would need to be t-5 vho.The only fixture known to me at this time that is t-5 vho is an Aquactinics 48 inch that has Ice Cap ballasts in it.So you may have to go to retro kits to get t-5 vho.

 

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I like the led units,its cool to be able to program them.But an incedent at work made me think a second time.I was given a 5 bulb/2 a battery led flash light by a distributor.I put it in my pocket and carried under a building.I guess pressure from my big butt turned the thing on in my pocket and I was nearly burned by it.If 5 bulbs are that hot how hot can 2 or 300 of them be?