lighting help

[cgoodman381]

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[PufferGuy]

well i ended up getting the lights that i had a link for before, anyone know if a Coral Beauty can nip at an anemone? or just corals...?

 

[dustin_P74]

if it does nip at an anemone it wont do it again

 

[PufferGuy]

thats what i figured

 

[IraqVeteran]

no pc lights are not very strong of lights i would not trust them for a nem or any sps coral.

I keep two anemones in a 24 gallon nano under PC lights and they do just fine. I just feed them krill once a week and they are good. He'll, they split several times and I put the spawns in my 30 gal under PC lights. They kept splitting so I took the ones in the 30 gal back to the LFS; I didn't want a 30gal tank full of them.

I am going to upgrade my 75gal to a reef tank and I wanted to see if you all think 9-10 watts per gal was enough utilizing MH HQI + PC?

 

[dustin_P74]

10 watts a gallon is plenty of light, and as for the nem splitting. thats not always a good sign

 

[IraqVeteran]

10 watts a gallon is plenty of light, and as for the nem splitting. thats not always a good sign

how is splitting not a good sign? They are thick and healthy and they eat just fine. As far as the MH I guess I should start them off about a foot above the tank right? If that's the case then I will have to buy the hanging kit. The "lights causing fires" that Biff spoke of kinda raises my attention though.

I dont know which brand I will get yet, but it will be a 48in combo HQI + T5 for sure. I wonder how much that will bring up my light bill?

 

[dustin_P74]

sometimes when they split it could be a sign off the nem dieing so it will split to make a clone of itself. but they also split when they are healthy

 

[daugherty]

I keep two anemones in a 24 gallon nano under PC lights and they do just fine. I just feed them krill once a week and they are good. He'll, they split several times and I put the spawns in my 30 gal under PC lights. They kept splitting so I took the ones in the 30 gal back to the LFS; I didn't want a 30gal tank full of them.

I am going to upgrade my 75gal to a reef tank and I wanted to see if you all think 9-10 watts per gal was enough utilizing MH HQI + PC?

you have to think about how tall a 36in 50 gal tank is compaired to a 30 gal tank my 50 is about 20-21 inches tall. it is hard to get good pc light to the bottom for other animals

 

[IraqVeteran]

you are correct about that Daugherty.....I was thinking about that after I made the last post once I was reading through this thread again.

Well, since my last post about ten minutes ago I purchased the Aqualight 692watt (2x250 MH + 2x96 PC) through Drs. Foster & Smith website. I searched it online and I couldn't find any bad reviews so I am going to go with it and I can still keep my new 96watt PC bulbs from my current fixture. My LFS said this was a pretty decent fixture. I opted to not get a fixture with lunar lights due to a much higher cost and the fact that it seems to be kinda Hollywood to me to have lunar lights.....unless it does promote spawning. Anyway, it cost me only $498 flat with S&H, not too bad.

 

[dustin_P74]

the only time i have seen a benefit to lunar lights is when they are controlled to match the phases of the moon which could encourage coral spawning but that is very rare in home aquaria

 

[daugherty]

that is not bad the only problem you may have is trying to use the 65w pc if you are going to try and run them with the bigger ballast it may blow them out very quick if no when you turn the power on to them

 

[IraqVeteran]

Youre right....I thought my PC's already were 96watts but I guess they are 65watts.....and yes I wont be able to use those.

Here is a link to the fixture I just bought.....not the prettiest thing out there but I suppose it will do the trick.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+8075+14704&pcatid=14704

Also, since this fixture does not use HQI will it be ok to mount it using the provided legs or will it make the tank too hot? My 75 gal is an open top tank and I dont plan to put a canopy or any kind of lid on it ever. I thought that I read that it is more necessary to have the lights raised via ceiling mount if they are HQI metal halides.

 

[daugherty]

any halide will heat the water it is better to get them of the water. i would just use the legs and get a clip on fan that blows under them to move the heat away from the water.

 

[IraqVeteran]

just any old clip on fan will work? Or are there specific ones you recommend?

 

[daugherty]

just any fan i bought a 8in fan for my sump at albertsons for 8 bucks.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have two clip on fans from Walmart for my tank. Without the fans, my MH lights heated up my 3-foot deep tank to 95 degrees. The two $7 fans drop that by 10 degrees. Well worth it.

 

[IraqVeteran]

Thanks Biff. I will go to Walmart today and get a couple of those.

 

[PufferGuy]

T-5 lighting doesnt need fans right? i didnt think it gets nearly as hot

 

[daugherty]

even t5's could use fans the cooler you keep them the better output of light you get