Lighting...

[djdubdub]

Hey All... I purchased a 110w high output strip light for my 55g.

I was curious... Is it beneficial to keep the light as close as possible to the water? Does it matter? How far is "too far" from the water surface?

My plans are: 75lbs live rock, 50lbs sand, corals, inverts and some fish.

I also have a 40watt Marine Glow. How much more am I going to need?? I read I need 3-4watts per gal... Is this good enough???

Thanks...

[djdubdub]

MORE, MORE, MORE... What about Mercury Vapors??? What about Halogens??? Sulphurs??? Is Lowe's or HD a good source for cheap lighting??

What is 9325 degrees... 10k... etc???

[djdubdub]

How would a Mercury Vapor come in "handy"... Is it good for corals? Fish? Or plants?

Lowes did have Mercury Vapor (80w) lamps for $40.

Thanks...

[OrionN]

Mercury vapor and Sodium lamb is very similar to MH in term of how light is produce. They exited atoms, which will in turn give off light of a specific spectrum. Each atom has a characteristic spectrum of emission. Sodium and Mercury light is not suitable for aquarium because they use a single element in the bulb. This will only give a few spikes in the emission spectrums. MH, on the other hand, use multiple metals in the bulb thus give a light of much boarder spectrum.
If you have a prism, you can easily split the light into its component spectrum and you can see that mono-element lights have a very simple pattern.
BTW, Sunlight has a continuous spectrum, all wavelengths are present.
Minh Nguyen

[djdubdub]

Tanks Minh... So basically what you are saying is... Any lamp w/ an element is not really going to be a good source of light... You need to look for "gas" bulbs...

[captexas]

You won't find much at Home Depot or Lowe's for lighting unless you are running normal flourescents as HD does carry a sunlight bulb with 6500k and some people have gotten what I think is a 13watt compact flourescent there which are good for nano tanks. You can get some ballasts from places like Grainger. Halogen lights produce way too much heat and are not available in different spectrums. Best bet is to keep an eye out online and you might be able to find someone selling their lighting setups.

For a mercury vapor ballast setup, you could find a MV light and take it apart to use the ballast and mogul socket, if you are a do-it-yourself type person. Supposedly, you can run the Iwasaki metal halide bulbs with them. You can find those mercury vapor outdoor lights at the hardware stores and they are inexpensive. They come in different wattages so just find one that is 150 or 250 watt and then get a good bulb and wire it up. Nothing complicated and you can get good growth in most corals with the Iwasaki bulbs.

[matt]

Hi;

Sounds like you should do some reading on light. There's a good chapter in Eric Borneman's book on corals, and lots of articles on line. Check reefcentral. Eric Borneman recently posted something about cheap MH lighting from a hydroponics outfit.

What you need to consider is this: On a coral reef, almost all the animals use photosynthesis to survive. In fact, light type and intensity affects every part of your aquarium environment; chemistry, biology, animal behavior, etc. Figure out what kind of environment you want to create, i.e. what animals you want, then find the right light for them. There's tons of info out there, some of it confusing.

Regarding H.D. and Lowes, probably if there were cheap effective lights for a coral reef aquarium out there, the reefkeeping bulletin boards would be swamped with info about it.

Good luck;
Matt

[OrionN]

Tanks Minh... So basically what you are saying is... Any lamp w/ an element is not really going to be a good source of light... You need to look for "gas" bulbs...
No. When the light turn on the electricity energy will turn the elements into a gas. Sodium light have Na and halogen in it , Mercury vapor have mercury and halogen gas in it. Metal halite have multiple metals in a bulb fill with halogen gas. Halogen gas are inert gas and do not react with the metals sodium or mercury. Wich metal and amount in the mix give the light its spectrum. 20000K light have different mix of metals than 10000K or 6500K.
Hope this is clear for you.
Minh Nguyen

[djdubdub]

All this info is great... Thanks for the help... Keep it coming...

[captexas]

LOL, yes there is a lot about reef keeping that can be confusing! So many choices! :o

You must remember, that no one person has the only true answer in this hobby. What works for one person may not work for another. People have been able to get nice coral growth from all types of lighting. There are so many factors involved in keeping a healthy reef tank and lighting is just one of them. It is true that metal halide gives the best results for sustaining many corals, but even then, you have to decide what kind of bulb to use as there are several to choose from. Everyone has there own opinions on them and it usually just comes down to what looks good to you.

[djdubdub]

What is Tim and Troy using??? Does anyone know???

[captexas]

I haven't been to Tim's place, but I know he uses metal halides. They are necessary for many of the corals that he keeps and sells. I have been to Troy's and he only has 2 400 watt metal halides on his main tank. I think he would add another one, but he is limited due to only having one circuit available where it is located. If you go to the meeting on Sunday, you can check it out. It's good to look at other peoples tanks to give you some ideas. Even when you are out at LFS, see what they are using and how it looks.

[Tim Marvin]

I run one 65k iwasaki, and one blueline 12k+. They are both 400 watt. I also use VHO and 250watt double ended on other tanks.