Anemone Lighting Question and Lighting in General.

  • Get the NEW AquariaCentral iOS app --> http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1227181058 // Android version will be out soon!

Stephen

There's always a bigger fish...
Nov 28, 2002
234
0
0
48
Virginia
I've set up some new lighting on my 75 gallon Saltwater and would like to include a couple of Condy Anemones when it's cycled. My question is though... I have 6 40 watt bulbs. 2 - 48" 40 watt Aquasun bulbs, 2 - 48" 40 watt Actinic blue bulbs, and 2 - 48" 40 watt Actinic white bulbs. Would this be enough lighting for a Condy Anemone? What about other types of anemones? Marine plants? Corals? I read that 3 -5 watts per gallon is required. With 240 watts I get about 3.2 watts per gallon with the lighting I set up. Enough??? Thanks in advance.
 

Joey D

AC Members
Jun 15, 2003
54
0
0
So cal-Phoenix, Az
Visit site
condy anemone

Well, it seems like you have enough light. Im my experience, condy anemones have been quite simple to keep, though they do tend to move around quite a bit. They are the rather cheaper anemones to buy, usually only 10 bucks or so can get you a nice speciman. I've also had much luck with carpet anemones, the one I have is virtually bulletproof, however, it's the bubble tip anemones I tend to have the most trouble with. Remember, anemones come from reefs which are usually 80-84 degreesF and have a full salinity specific gravity of 1.023-1.025. Though it seems, many people and retailers will tell you different, which is one of the mysteries of reef keeping. Different strokes for different folks. Some anemones, like my bubble tip, will react to any change in water parameters, one hour it looks normal, an hour later it looks not so good. Remember to feed your anemone WHOLE fish like silversides and whole krill, they need all the parts of the fish to mimic nature and supply them with all the nutrients. Vary their diet, if they regurgitate thier food, try a different type, depending on how much they regurgitate, until they feed well and begin growing. Good luck with your anemone.
 
Last edited:

Guy W

AC Members
Apr 8, 2002
623
2
18
44
Naples, FL
Quality of light is as or more important than quantity of light.

Normal Output (40 watt) bulbs don't produce the same quality of light as VHO, PC, or Metal Halide bulbs do. You would probably be better off with 2 or 4 96 PC bulbs then with 6 Normal Output bulbs.

I don't know how to explain Lumens and Lux very well, other than the higher the Lumens the closer to natural sunlight you are achieving and the deeper the light can penetrate the water.

I think you have enough light for some corals, mostly softies, but I don't think you'll have a lot of success with Anemone's. If a Condy and Condilactius is the same thing I can tell you mine died in my tank after only 6 months under 2x96watt power compact and 4x30watt Normal Output bulbs. Thats 312watts at roughly 2.5 watts per gallon.

Guy
 

Joey D

AC Members
Jun 15, 2003
54
0
0
So cal-Phoenix, Az
Visit site
lighting

Ok, lighting does get confusing. I have been told by one of my old retailers, who had the most beautiful displays of reef tanks i have ever seen, that the depth of your tank is more important than the actual amount of water it holds. look at it this way, lats say you have a 100 gallon tank and used 100 four watt lamps, thats 400 watts of light and 4 watts per gallon. But, even though its 400 watts, its still only going to penetrate the water as good as a 4 watt lamp. Get it? With a deeper tank, I think you would need an initial VHO light to penetrate deeply, one with a much higher kelvin rating. The kelvin rating is the "k" in a lamps output Ex: 7000k. 10000k, etc...I dont know if that is a scientific fact but i will research it for you(us fishkeepers). here is site that explains the wavelengths of light, confusing, but i hope it helps.
http://peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1789&articleid=2689
 

Awestralian

Awesome...
May 22, 2003
78
0
0
Sydney, Australia
au.geocities.com
Joey is on the right track, just seems like maybe you were having trouble trying to say what you meant?!?

The depth of your tank is a consideration, as is the total gallons.
The wavelength and intensity of your lights is also important.

The easiest way i can explain is to think of it this way...

Think of your ordinary household light. Just the plain ones you can buy at the store, that cost like $3. You can get different watts, like 50w, 100w, 150w, 200w, etc...

200WATTS!! WOW!! and only THREE BUCKS! Great right?

Wrong, of course.
You realise as well as anyone else that you cant grab a plain old household bulb, wack it in your desk lamp and slam it onto the top of your tank and grow anything and everything... Your watts per gallon would be stupendious though!

An example: my tank has a total of one bulb. Its not metal halide either. Its a tube bent back around to double up at the base, but its only about 4-5inches long, and it only puts out ELEVEN watts.

But i can grow anenomes and clams if i so choose to.

How? Its 10000K.
Its not the kind of light you can look at, - without instantly going blind, that is.
Also, my tank is only 7gallons. And only 25 litres.

See how other factors besides watts affect what you can and cant keep?
 

Joey D

AC Members
Jun 15, 2003
54
0
0
So cal-Phoenix, Az
Visit site
lighting revised

Ok, I did my little research, and here's what i found out. "lux" is "The intensity of light which impacts a surface, drfostersmith.com". So, I guess it comes down to this. When buying lights, try to buy as few as possible to acheive the desired watts-per-gallon rating for your tank. Which would mean, buy a few or even one very intense light with a high kelvin and lux rating, it's even cheaper that way. I'm not sure what the highest watt of VHO's are available, but with a larger tank, I belive power compacts would be the way to go. Like i said before, a bunch of lower intense bulbs don't have the lux of a higher intense bulb. thats it for now
 

mogurnda

vaguely present
Apr 29, 2003
5,383
0
0
DC
Visit site
There's an awful lot of information out there regarding photosynthetically available radiation from each type of lighting, which is the key parameter. Basically, NO fluorescent lighting has a rating of about 1 uE/watt, VHO is about the same, while PC is about 20% higher. Metal halide gives ratings of about 1.3 to 1.4. The upshot is that you get more usable light per watt from metal halide, followed by PC, with NO and VHO giving less. Your results will still depend on getting bulbs that produce the right spectrum.
There are a lot of discussions out there, most of them qualitative and confusing. This one is one of the best with regard to actual measurements and clear explanations.
Not sure about whether a condy would do well under 240 watts of NO, but that's not very intense light. Equivalent to 180 watts of PC. I would experiment with softies first.
 

always learning

AC Members
Jun 5, 2003
91
0
0
Visit site
What do you think of this lighting, would it work?
Smartlight, 10000K and actininc
regular flourescent 15W 10000K
and for night Blue moon (actinic) 15W

For corals I plan to have:
striped mushroom
starburst polyps
and either a yellow clony polyp, a long tenticle (or condy) anemone, or toadstool mushroom leather

Would my pair of false percula clowns make the toadstool their home?
How many hours should I leave my lights on for?
BTW what's NO?
/www.drsfostersmith.com/ has alot of good stuff on it, I buy alot of stuff online there, great prices too, some of the lowest I've seen! Same with all of their other sites.
This should probably go under the newbie forums
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store