lighting?

[hiphophippo8]

Hello everybody,

I just bought a lighting system for my tank. It is a 48" power compact lighting system. It has four 64 watt bulbs two are normal bulbs and two are the actinic. It isnt making my tank as bright as I would like so I started looking for higher watt bulbs. I found a package of four 95 watt bulbs and would like to get those but I had a few questions.
Will the current fixture support them it is a oddysea?
Will I need a new ballast?
Will it make a noticable difference of brightness in my tank?

Also I have one more question its about my frag tank. I have a 10 gallon tank that I would like to dedicate to coral frags. My last frag tank was a two gallon with a 12 watt power compact bulb and they loved that. Right now I have one 12 watt light on my 10 gallon which isnt near enough. I wanted to use led lights but I wasnt sure if they would work. I saw some on ebay that said they were for growing corals but they were only two watts is that enough? I know they are really bright but is that good enough.

Thanks for all the help

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Do you have a link to the LED fixture? If the total power consumption was 2 watts, I can guarantee it's no good.


PCs are okay for soft corals, but there are better solutions out there. T5s penetrate deeper and produce less heat, and produce more light. To do major overhauling on a PC fixture is a waste IMO.

 

[molsen187]

watch out for those odyssea. i have one of those in a t5 fixture over my tank. it does the job pretty well but it gets wicked hot. my lunar lights broke after like 6 months. i'm saving up for new lights right now.

 

[BigAl07]

I'm with both of the above posts...

• A) Don't waste your time modding the current fixture... PC is PC is PC... you'll have more time and $$ invested in a modded fixture than if you just sold it and got a new T5 unit.
  
• B) Be very careful with that brand. They have some good units but their reputation is not very good. Buyer Beware . . .
  
• 3) 2 watt LEDs would make some very bright moon-lights... anything else is just "Creative Marketing" (aka BS).

 

[molsen187]

to clear up on my odyssea light. i like it. i've had it over two tank now and have not had a problem keeping anything i want to keep. i don't have any sps and wouldnt' think of trying it with this light. if i had to do it over i would of gotten a different light though at the start. it gets really really hot even with the fans. my moonlights have already broke. i know they not burned out since they are leds they just don't turn on anymore. i would really reccomend getting a different fixture. nova extreme pro's are a fairly priced t5 fixture that works well and doesn't break your bank.

 

[BigAl07]

Catalina Aquariums makes some nice T5 fixtures that give you a LOT of "Bang for your Buck".

Here's a good link that is talking about a similar topic
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/just-starting-out-sw-beginners/52993-lighting-question.html

 

[hiphophippo8]

My lighting fixture just gets warm not hot and it's working great I just want it a little brighter and I found a package of 4 95 watt power compact lights for 30 bucks so I just wanted to know if I could just plug those in

 

[BigAl07]

My lighting fixture just gets warm not hot and it's working great I just want it a little brighter and I found a package of 4 95 watt power compact lights for 30 bucks so I just wanted to know if I could just plug those in

Negative. Your ballast probably wont even light them let alone drive them correctly.

 

[fishhead]

My lighting fixture just gets warm not hot and it's working great I just want it a little brighter and I found a package of 4 95 watt power compact lights for 30 bucks so I just wanted to know if I could just plug those in

Unlikely you could run the 95's in a 65 ballast, but you could run 65's in a 95 ballast , but that would get really hot. If all you are after is more visible light, why not replace the 10kK/460nm lights with bulbs containing no actinic blue? If you want to see the cool colors under actinic blue at night, get some blue led moonies? Just yet another thought.
Greg

 

[hiphophippo8]

ya thats a thought it already has some nice moon lights but without the blue actinic lights the water looks really yellow and I dont like it. So I was thinking about getting some blue led strips to put on the fixture to even out the color. When I have just the blue on it looks really nice but I dont really want the tank to be blue all the time. Also I found some UV led lights they come in a strip of nine and have a total of three watts, If I get some of these for my frag tank along with what I have will that work.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Do you have a link to the lights?

Generally, actinic lighting is either 420 or 460nm. That's the blue range, with 420 being more purple and 460 being more blue. UVs are exactly that, ultra violet, or "more than purple". It is still debated whether UV LEDs are actually necessary in LED lighting systems, and I would say that especially LEDs consuming a third of a watt a piece will not benefit you much at all.

If you want to get LEDs for accent lighting, that's fine, however, unless you get some high quality LEDs they will not produce much PAR and won't be of much use.

 

[fishhead]

True. My LED's ore 90W and quite bright. I was meerly suggesting getting some 10-14kK lighting (which contains all the light the soft corals need to grow), NOT 6500K lights which are kind of yellowish and not very pretty. Some very weak, blue LED's were suggested not for moonlight per Se, but merely for the aesthetic value of observing the various colors seen w/in the corals at night. The ooh ah effect.

 

[hiphophippo8]

True. My LED's ore 90W and quite bright. I was meerly suggesting getting some 10-14kK lighting (which contains all the light the soft corals need to grow), NOT 6500K lights which are kind of yellowish and not very pretty. Some very weak, blue LED's were suggested not for moonlight per Se, but merely for the aesthetic value of observing the various colors seen w/in the corals at night. The ooh ah effect.

I have some 6500k lights on my 10 gallon frag tank and they are bright white not yellowish. My corals love them and have been out every day now since I switched them out of my 55 gallon. My two daytime bulbs are 1200ks on the compact flourescents. Could I get 14000k bulbs to make it a little less yellowy and brighter.

 

[2in10]

Check around on the net, Current brand bulbs can be found in 420/460 bulbs. One tube is 420 purple and the other is 460 blue. It will make your tank brighter. There are also 10000k/460 bulbs. Just make sure you get the right pin configuration.