proper lighting for tank/corals

[johnmiami]

Is there a general rule of thumb for the amount of lighting an acquarium should have? I have a 90 gal reef tank.

 

[morau89]

nope, there is no general rule of thumb. How deep is your tank? What type of corals do you want to keep?

 

[largo]

friend of mine has a 92 corner with 1 250 MH and 3 actinic VHO's and she has sps and softies doing well.

 

[lcstorc]

The type of light and wattage as well as the depth and what you want to keep are all extremely important. There is not watts per gallon type of rule.

 

[cbrownfish]

What do you want to keep in this tank? I run 2X250W Metal halides on my 90 gallon.

 

[faust]

i have 2, 150 watt m/h and 253 watts of pc in my 80 gallon. 26 inch tank depth and the lr is 6inches from the top of the tank

 

[johnmiami]

the depth is 24"
Currently inventory list:
anemone
spotted mushroom
bubble
torch
frogspawn
flower pots
montipora
clam

I would like proper lighting for what I have and something that can be expanded if necessary depending on what else that I add in.

Lighting I currently have is
I have two compact flores. The blue and the white each 65 watts.
I added another fixture of t5's each 28 watts more.

I think I need more light still. Comments?

 

[prow]

mmmmm, what type of clam and anemone do you have? what type of monti do you have dig/cap ect...?

 

[BigJay]

130 watts of PC is no where near enough light for a 90 with pretty much any coral. I am one that likes to argue people go to far to the extreme of light but I don't think anyone can argue you definetly need more. Considering you have nems and clams you really need to be pushing the high side of the lighting spectrum at minimum if your staying with PC's I'd say somewhere around 300-400 watts would be the minimum and everything else about your tank would have to be absolutely perfect.

edit that should read with any photosynthetic coral not just any coral

 

[BigJay]

whats the width on your tank btw? I have a 48" coralife 260 w PC fixture with 4 lunar lights less then 15 months old. The bulbs are less then 2 months old and I'll sell it for just what I paid for the bulbs $110. Shipping from me to you should be pretty reasonable. Absolutely nothing wrong with it and you can see a pic of it in my chronicle.

 

[cbrownfish]

At a minimum, you need 150-175W halides on this tank. You have already selected high-light creatures and your lighting is insufficient. For the record, PC lighting is only effective up to about ~20" of depth. Corals, anemones or clams on the bottom are barely getting any usable light.

 

[johnmiami]

are u recommending 150-175 in total watts or each bulb for a total of what?

 

[prow]

he is rec. 150w MH bulbs or 175w bubls.

what type of clam and anemone and monti do you have???????? T5's or MH or VHO or maybe even more PC's. depends on placement and what corals/clam you have.

if you have a bubble tip anemone, dig and derasa clam with good placement more PC's or some VHO's may do. a crocea, cup and condylactis anemone your going to need MH or a good T5 setup..so what do you have???

 

[johnmiami]

sorry I was gone a couple of days. I have the following
condy anemone
spotted mushroom
white bubble coral
torch coral
frogspawn
yellow flower pots
montipora - not sure of the type

I would like to continue to add a variety of different corals in my tank. So do I need to scrap the fixtures that I have and start over $$$$ or is there any adjustments that i can make?
clam

 

[BigJay]

most of those do not require halides no matter what anyway tells you. Got a pic of the monti?

 

[prow]

i agree most of your stock do not need MH. the only thing here though is you do have a couple corals that need some pretty strong lighting. the condy, maybe the monti and clam are the ones to be concerned with. i would exchange those for similar not so light demanding corals. like a brain instead of the clam or a bubble tip instead of a condy. but if you really want to try them, then i would go with a good T5 setup(not a setup for sps, but still good) and place those demanding corals on the top of the rock work.

 

[cheeks69]

I would like proper lighting for what I have and something that can be expanded if necessary depending on what else that I add in.

I agree with cbrownfish on the minimum recomendation for halides or a 6-54w T5 bulb setup on either a hood or a retro fit kit, this way you can keep anything you want without wondering if you have enough light.