Will this work

[DukeB]

HI,
I am so releived to find a place like this!
I am in the early stages of planning a small 20 gallon reef setup. I thought I had every base covered until I discovered **lighting**.
My local LFS sold me two of those 50/50 10 watt compact flourescent bulbs (10,000k) and a hood, with the proper incandescent light fixtures. The hood that came with the 20 gallon tank has a standard (single) 15 watt flourescent tube. I was instructed to modify one of the hoods to hold both the incandescent light fixture and the flourescent light fixture. (Confused yet?) :question:
My question is, will this lighting be enough? Or, is there a better/cheaper method?
Thanks in advance,
Duke

This has been moved to the general reef forum

[StirCrazy]

it all depends on what you want to keep in there..

Steve

[kris]

a good way for people here to start helping you is to discribe what you want to keep. As well as how your planing to keep it, ie set-up and feeding.


cheers

[horsehunter]

My first thought was to tell you to get a 24inch fixture with 2 65w power compacts Coralife or custom Sea Life you could get Metal Halide or get as involved as you like, and to find another LFS.

My second thought was to keep my big mouth shut.

My third thought was what the hell To me what the LFS gave you is expensive Mickey Mouse.

[DukeB]

This should have been in the newbies section I guess-- My apologies.
Like I said, I'm still in the planning stages, picking up the odd peice here and there. My plan is to have a humble reef tank with a clown (or two?) a cleanup crew, and some soft corals ( which from what I understand are easier to keep??). I plan on using live rock, a DSB and power heads for filtration.
I stumbled onto the lighting aspects of setting up the tank. When I was shown these two little compact flourescents, I started questioning whether or not I had reliable information given to me. After seeing a reef tank setup with these, I thought cool --save some cash. When I got home with these things I found myself thinking-- how can something half the cost work as good?
In any event, if that lighting isn't up to snuff, would anyone care to offer a shopping list of what I should be after?
Again, thank-you for your time and patience.

[StirCrazy]

if you want to keep soft corals.. what you have is probably fine.

It wouldent hurt to throw in a couple more powerfull PC like 23 watt or 55 watts if you can fit them in there.

Steve

[pocilipora]

He just told you what he wants to keep. :eek:

[kari]

That's where the bucks go. I wonder how rich those light bulb/fixture maker guys are by now.

DIY lighting stuff can save you a bunch of cash but if you go that route be careful not to burn down the house. Most of my lighting is DIY but it does make me wonder. Modifying fixtures can also be a risk. How would the fire inspector comment if things went wrong.

[Beverly]

Hi Duke,

I'm in Edmonton, too, and was recently light shopping for my new 72 gal bowfront that will eventually house captive bred tropical seahorses, lr and macroalgae for the horses to hitch onto.

Found a nice Oceanic light fixture with two 55 pc tubes for the 4' tank at Super Pet in Mayfield Common, suitable to grow softies if I wanted, which I don't plan on. They also have 2' fixtures which might suit you well. The same 4' fixture was $70 off at PJ's south side store. Don't know if their 2' fixtures are on sale, but you might want to check it out.

HTH.

[DukeB]

Thanks for the info all. I appreciate the help.
Beverly,
Thanks. I'm going to go down and check it out.

[DukeB]

Me again,
I'm still pondering this lighting issue...
I came across a Coralife 2x36w aqualight . According to the add, it comes with actinic and 10,000k flourescent power compacts. Probably a silly question...but... in the long run, would this serve me better than what I already have?

[StirCrazy]

Me again,
I'm still pondering this lighting issue...
I came across a Coralife 2x36w aqualight . According to the add, it comes with actinic and 10,000k flourescent power compacts. Probably a silly question...but... in the long run, would this serve me better than what I already have?

yes it would in my opinion. and if you have room you could put a couple of these on if later you decided you needed a bit more.

Steve

[Bob I]

Me again,
I'm still pondering this lighting issue...
I came across a Coralife 2x36w aqualight . According to the add, it comes with actinic and 10,000k flourescent power compacts. Probably a silly question...but... in the long run, would this serve me better than what I already have?

I have the Coralife 2X96W on my 36" 50 with mainly softies, and some LPS, and a couple of Montipore digitata. I only run the 10000K during the day, and in the evening the Actinic also comes on. Everything is doing fine. I thought the 24" Coralife Aqualight had 2X65W bulbs. Anyway MOPS sells it for $229.00

BTW I used to run my 20H with a DIY top with two CSL 32W retro kits. It did very well, but it is not cost effective, as the kits sell for $129.95 each. So that is more than the Coralife Aqualight. I also ran the same tank with two, 2X13W Brightlite kits from Ahsupply.com. That worked too, but was very expensive.

Just a couple of ideas for you. :biggrin:

[Don E]

My 20G has a do it yourself wooden canopy. I went to Home Depo and got a 24-dollar incandescent fixture for four bulbs- something that might go over your bathroom mirror, 24" wide.

I had four incandescent-base compact fluorescents, 23W each, from when I lived in Victoria- Gord Campbell was giving them away this spring. Put 'em in, suddenly had 92 watts of light over my 20, and I had happy happy soft corals for about 25 bucks (thanks to the Gov't of BC.).

Problem is, the light is very warm compared to the crisp blue that a reef tank normally has (the corals haven't minded in the least so far- my green star polyp is taking over the world.) Anyway, if you haven't been able to take advantage of the Liberal government's largesse, Home Deep sells a similar bulb by Phillips for about 10 bucks each.

Then I discovered that Envirolite puts out a 26w bulb that is quite blue- I think it's daylight spectrum, about 6200K. They cost about 25 bucks and I'm going to slowly raplace Mr. Campbell's bulbs with these. Then I'll have 104 w of nice looking light.

Then when I have some cash, I still have room in the canopy for a single NO tube, and I'll put an actinic blue in there on a different circuit, and do twilight for an hour each morning and evening.

Dat's the plan anyway.

[Bob I]

I had four incandescent-base compact fluorescents, 23W each, from when I lived in Victoria- Gord Campbell was giving them away this spring. Put 'em in, suddenly had 92 watts of light over my 20, and I had happy happy soft corals for about 25 bucks (thanks to the Gov't of BC.).

Problem is, the light is very warm compared to the crisp blue that a reef tank normally has (the corals haven't minded in the least so far- my green star polyp is taking over the world.) Anyway, if you haven't been able to take advantage of the Liberal government's largesse, Home Deep sells a similar bulb by Phillips for about 10 bucks each.

Kind of shows that one can have a reef tank without SPS. Thus avoiding major cost overruns.
:rolleyes: :eek:

[DukeB]

Wow DonE,
That really sounds great! I would sure like to see some pics of that :biggrin:
I was under the impression that an actinic was a necessity. Now you've really gotten my attention. How long has your 20 been up for?
Thanks for that,
Duke

[Don E]

My 20 has been up since May 12. The various ugly blooms seem to be done with, at least for the moment, and I have about 5 different macroalgaes and 3 colors of corraline growing and it's starting to look good.

Some people would definitely assert that the actinics are necessary- I'm a bit sceptical. They certainly do look good. People claim they reproduce the sun's light filtered through ocean water at typical reef depths. I'm inclined to think the appeal is more aesthetic than practical (and may have something to do with the fact that many reefers will pay a LOT of money for lighting equipment, and retailers know that...) I'm still reading about it before I make up my mind.

I don't have a digital cam at the moment- I just took a few shots with my SLR and if they turn out, I'll post them.

Good luck, and if you have any other questions don't hesitate to contact me- I'll share what little experience I have.

don

[MalHavoc]

Some people would definitely assert that the actinics are necessary- I'm a bit sceptical. They certainly do look good. People claim they reproduce the sun's light filtered through ocean water at typical reef depths. I'm inclined to think the appeal is more aesthetic than practical (and may have something to do with the fact that many reefers will pay a LOT of money for lighting equipment, and retailers know that...) I'm still reading about it before I make up my mind.

Allow me to play Devil's Advocate somewhat, then. Eric Borneman, author of the very popular reference book "Aquarium Corals", made this comment in his forum over on reef central:


Corals can use virtually all of the visible wavelengths of light and some of the near UV range to photosynthesize. The wavelengths that have been shown to be most effective at stimulating the photosynthetic machinery of most zooxanthellae species (i.e. shallow water tropical corals and other inverts) is white (composed of a mix of wavelengths) and blue (composed of a different and narrower range of wavelengths). Actinic light is a term for a bulb that produces blue and some near UV light wavelenghts.

Thus, actinic light, depending on how much of it there is, can be very useful and effective in stimulating coral zooxanthellae. You can grow corals well using only actinic light - if there is enough of it - same as any light source since corals can use all the wavelengths and will photoadapt to maximize use of whatever wavelengths are present.

That's lighting in a simplified, perhaps non-idealized but functional nutshell.

Personally, I agree with Eric. I've noticed an improvement in coral appearance when it comes time to replace my actinic bulbs in the tank.

[Bob I]

[quote]Some people would definitely assert that the actinics are necessary- I'm a bit sceptical. They certainly do look good. People claim they reproduce the sun's light filtered through ocean water at typical reef depths. I'm inclined to think the appeal is more aesthetic than practical (and may have something to do with the fact that many reefers will pay a LOT of money for lighting equipment, and retailers know that...) I'm still reading about it before I make up my mind.

I have long maintained that what you say is correct. Sunlight in the tropics at noon is 6500K. As you move deeper into the water some frequencies are filtered out, and the light appears more blue the deeper you get.

Therefore if one provides light of 6500K, one provides all the correct spectrum for growth., but blue is purty, but in no way necessary for coral growth.

However, for looks it is necessary, as a lot of corals fluoresce under actinic light. This is especially true for many zoanthids. If you really want to see the nice colors it is best to provide some actinic lighting. That is what I have found anyway. :rolleyes: