Another lighting question

S

shanet1975

Reefing newb
Morning....
The used setup I just picked up has a homemade hood setup with 4 65 watt flourescent bulbs. I would like to upgrade these to something a little better to be able to someday have coral in my tank. No rush, as these lights are fine for my little clown fish I have.
My tank is a standard 55 gallon, 48' long. He had put 48 inch bulbs (or whatever size they are to match a 48' fixture). If I were to look into a t5 retrofit kit, would I be OK? The hood is fully enclosed and there are no fans. Do t5's run hot? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I'd like to keep using the hood if I can as it matches the stand and dresses the tank up a bit...
Thanks again!!!
 
Last edited:
If it's 4 65watt pcs your fine. You have enough light to keep many different corals, not all, but many.
 
Bobby is right, with those lights you can keep most corals, but not clams, SPS or anemones. So if you want to upgrade later down the road, you could buy a T5 retrofit kit. T5s don't run hot, but it would still be a good idea to put some fans in, which is really easy to do. I haven't done it myself, but I know other people on here have and say it's easy, hopefully they'll chime in.
 
Thanks Bifferwine. So you shouldn't get anenomes with the lights I am currently using? Was looking at the ones that the clown fish like, not sure what there called though.
 
You might be able to keep a BTA which clowns host, but I cant say for sure. You'll have to look into that more. BTA or (bubble tip amenones) are one of the easier nems to keep and dont require as much light as most. Your tank should be atleast 8 months to a year old before nems are added though.
 
i have 265 watts of pc lighting on my 55. i keep lps and softies and they are doing fine. there are lots of corals that you can keep under those lights. especially if you have a good reflector, and the lights are pretty close to the top of the tank.
 
Fish,Biff, and Bobby steered you the right direction.You can keep many different corals with PCs.Mainly LPS and soft corals,later on if SPS,clams, and anemones peak your interest than T5 would be better choice.
 
Last edited:
No refelctor. Mounted to the bottom of the wood. They are about 4 or 5 inches from the water. I have to wait a bit though as I just set this up over the weekend. It was an established tank before I set it up again, but I replaced about 50% of the water. Just did my first 50% water change last night to try to bring down my nitrates were at 40. Folks say they should be around 20 I believe. We'll see what they are tonight....
Thanks again...
 
Off topic...I think I asked this in a prior thread, but don't recall if I had an answer. I have 1 clown fish (don't eben know what kind it is, I'll have to post a pic, he is orange with one white stripe around his head), he is 8 years old and he eats like a champ. I have been feeding him/her brine shrimp and flakes, twice a day (not both twice a day, more shrimp than flakes). Is that about right for feedings? Should I feed more or less, any different kinds of foods? He scoffs down every last bit I put in the tank. I give him/her 1/2 a cube in the frozen packages at a time...
 
Hum a clown thats orange with one stripe....one of these three.A Tomato,Skunk, or Cinnamon clownfish.I switch both of the foods you are feeding now.Flakes only causes water quality problems and brine shrimp has no nutritional values.Try mysis,prime reef,and other meaty foods(all frozen).Once a day usually good,I guess feeding a little twice a day is ok too.

An 8 year old clown huh...she must be big one!
 
Could be it's not a clown. Looks like one to me :). I just posted 2 pictures on another thread in this section 2 minutes ago and you can see him in the 2nd picture. I'll drop into the lfs on the way home and pick up something else for the little fella. He isn't big at all, the guy I bought the setup from said he was 8 years old. One will never know......
Thanks for the advise....
 
Thanks Bifferwine.....I drove right by the lfs store today. Twas a long day and didn't even think about stopping. I'll stop tomorrow for something a bit different than the Brine shrimp I've been giving him. I'll also drop to once a day. Should he be eating a whole square of the shrimp at a time? Or less?
 
Formula One Marine Pellet AD
______________________



these will cause some algea but keep parisites away.They have vitimins and garlic in them to prevent dieseses such as ich.and because of the new breakthrough swedish design it is safe for corals and inverts
_____________________________________
Testimonials

Hibye From McMurray Pa

i love this product i have used it when i had ich and after about a week they had no ich **********
 
I only give my fish 2 pinches every 3rd day,Thats 2 pinches with a set of tweezers I use as feeding tongs.
 

Similar threads

M
Novice needing advice!!
Replies
0
Views
1K
montgrl99
M
R
Giving it a second try
Replies
0
Views
2K
Reefydude360
R
Loz
Introducing my self
Replies
2
Views
1K
Loz
Loz
N
Moving a tank, suggestions?
Replies
2
Views
4K
Big K
Big K
D
Is my light ok for a 30 gallon reef?
Replies
1
Views
3K
dcom
D
Back
Top