Lighting questions...

aquaman66

aquaman66

i do alot of web stuff
Oct 11, 2008
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Kitchener, Ontario
aquatichobby.net
hello and thanks for reading. I just setup my first SW aquarium and wondering about lighting.

Do lighting guidelines used in freshwater applies to saltwater as well (e.g 3w/gallon etc.)?

If no, what are the ways to determine the level of light (low,moderate,high).

Also will a 40W Power Compact & 26 W CFL (Total 66W) would be enough to grow mushrooms or other type of corals.

And one last thing, I'm planning to make it a Reef w/ Fish aquarium, which should I go for first? Fish or Corals?

Thanks in advance!

- - - - -
My current setup is 35gallon Hex. 20lb Arragonite substrate and 50lb dead coral rock.
Lighting: 1) 40 W Power Compact fixture (50/50 blue actinic w/ LED) and CFL fixture 26 W (total of 66W)
SG = .1024
Cycling for more than a week now and opt to check Water Params on thursday.
 
Welcome to the saltwater hobby!

WPG is an outdated guideline for quantifying light over any tank. It fails to consider tank dimensions (so many custom and odd tank sizes now) and does not work well on tanks that are particularly small or overly large. Watts is only a measure of how much energy is consumed, not any indication of how much light is actually produced. The different types of lighting (VHOs, power compacts, T5 HO, metal halide, etc.) do not produce the same amount of light output per watt of energy consumed. Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) is currently used to quantify whether a tank has a suitable amount of light. A PAR meter is rather expensive, but there's various places online where hobbyists have listed measured PAR values for different types of lighting / bulb + ballast combinations.

What are the dimensions of a 35g Hex? Height will probably play the biggest role in whether or not your current lighting is strong enough for beginner corals.

Choosing to add fish or corals first is up to you. I had many corals before I ever added a fish, but many people have at least a fish or two before adding corals. One way to look at it is this -- some of the "experts" will very openly say that one of the best ways to get your corals to grow is to have fish in the tank. Fish poo makes good coral food. :)
 
thanks FSN77 ... its sounds complicated however I'm doing some online research about PAR that you mentioned. Found some devices and kinda cost a bit much.

my 35g's height is almost 3.5 feet - 4 feet... couldn't find my tape meter to measure it properly, but I'm pretty sure it falls on that range.

By the way I got my first fish... for the meantime I decided to go for Damselfishes until I'm confident enough with my setup. And probably bring them back to store and replace them with better looking ones :D

here are the pics:
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3623883870_985c878ac1.jpg
 
Yep, PAR meters are not cheap... That's why it's good that some of the people that have one are sharing measured values with everyone else. I don't know offhand where anyone's posted values for PC bulbs or compact fluorescent, but there might be some numbers out there. Values for T5 HO and MH are much easier to find.

With a tank so tall and narrow, it's going to be hard to adequately light your tank. Truthfully, if you want to go full reef and keep more than just low light corals, you're best bet is probably going to be a metal halide (MH) pendant. I say this because of the odd shape and the general inability to pack enough of any other bulb type in such a small space over the tank. I won't lie... it's not going to be cheap, as a 250w (or 400w) MH pendant is going to cost a couple hundred dollars or more. It would be a good idea to see what you can find used, as you'll be able to save a considerable amount of money compared to buying new, if you'd like to upgrade the lighting.
 
Tuesday fsn77... I get my Apogee MQ-200 PAR meter and I have A LOT of CF, T5HO, MH, and Solartubes I will be testing in the next couple weeks. I will be open to request as well and if I can fill them I will. :)

I agree .. 250 or 400w DE MH is really the best choice to light that tank as a reef.
 
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