Lighting

archer772

archer772

AC Members
Apr 20, 2006
1,268
0
0
66
Caro Michigan
I have seen a lot of newbies asking how many WPG they need for there reef tanks, well WPG is a very outdated rule of thumb for lighting a reef. What is more important is the par value of the different lighting and the ability of penatration thru the water. There are basically 4 different types of lighting used on our tanks and those are VHO's, PC's, T-5's and MH's and they can all work well on some tanks depending on what you plan to keep and the depth of the tank it is going on.

PC's and VHO's will work good for low light corals in most any tank and some of the moderate light corals in shallower tanks.

T-5's will work good for most moderate light to higher light corals in some of the deeper tanks depending on how you set up your T-5's

MH's will work very good on almost any of the higher light corals on the deeper tanks.

I also have seen newbies saying they just want lower light corals but oh yea I want an Anemone or Clam well then you should be getting at least a T-5 setup or a MH setup as these are very light demanding animals.
These suggestions are just the basics about lighting for our reefs as there are always exceptions to any suggestions. This subject has been on my mind and I just wanted to get this of my chest because I have seen several times ( and not just here ) where someone will get those nice lights and find out they cant keep some of the things they want because the lighting they got isnt enough for what they want to keep. You should look down the road a year and decide what you think you will want to keep so you dont have to replace you lighting and spend maybe twice as much as you would have had you bought the correct lighting the first time around.
Sorry about my ramblings about lighting but I just needed to get this off my chest.
 
Archer,

Another thing probably worth mentioning is the cost of each type of lighting.

PC is probably the cheapest high power marine lighting to initially get into. There are zillions of fixtures to choose from, and they are just not very expensive. People tend to purchase them based on the low start up cost.

But then they start reading and learn that the bulbs need to be replaced every 6 months, and that they're up there among the higher priced bulbs.

VHO, I'm not going to mention too much on cost, as I don't really know mcuh about them.

T5 has a higher initial cost, especially if a setup with individual reflectors is pruchased, but the bulbs tend to last up to a year and they are cheaper to replace. Combine the less frequent change schedule with the lesser cost of the bulbs and in the long run this setup can bridge the cost gap rather quickly.

Metal Halide. A lot of people think this setup is too costly and too hard to implement. They worry about the heat, the power consumption, the bulb cost. But, again, the bulbs last at least 9 months, and the sheer # of bulbs is quite a bit less. So, instead of changing 4 fluorescent tubes, a person really only has to change one (or maybe 2) bulbs.

Anyway, this post is far from completely thought out, but I just wanted to comment on a good discussion!

:)
 
Thanks for the comments and yes there are other factors involved with the different lighting but I am running out of time I need to get ready for work and I thought I would come back to it but you beat me to it Subliminal :grinyes:. I just hope some of the new people getting into the hobby would try to find as much info as they can and save them selfs some money on having to replace there lighting for the higher light things they want to keep.
 
Yeah, it's pretty funny that I went through 3 lighting systems before settling on my metal halide system.

The halide system is composed on an electrical box (ballast), a few cords, a socket/reflector and a bulb. It's a very simple setup, but if you don't know what you're supposed to be looking for, it's not really a treat to try and figure out.
 
You mentioned something about heat Sublimanil and yes that is something to consider but what I have seen is that PC's can cause alot of heat and add that to the heigth that most tube lights tend to be mounted they can raise tank temps a fair amount, VHO's tend to add a little less heat than PC's, T-5's on a Spec or Workhourse ballast tend to cause even a little less heat than VHO's but run T-5's on an IC ballast and they can get fairly warm now MH's seem like they would add the most heat but from what I see is that people tend to mount them between 7-10 inches above the water and a lot of the tanks I have seen people tend to use an open top canopy and that helps to reduce the heat problem alot. I am basically talking about retro kits put into canopies as that is about all I work with, I feel they are cheaper than all in one units. With the heat issues that any of these light systems can cause nothing beats a couple of computer fans wired in to your canopy to drop temps in your tank.
 
I agree about the PCs and the heat. My fuge has a power compact and the thing had to be retrofitted with 2 mini fans in it. It still puts off too much heat for my tastes and I'll probably be running another fan on the unit.
 
as a newb this was very interesting... any recommendations on what to get for a 46 gallon, about 18 inches tall, want to eventually keep soft corals...
 
Subliminal said:
Yeah, it's pretty funny that I went through 3 lighting systems before settling on my metal halide system.

The halide system is composed on an electrical box (ballast), a few cords, a socket/reflector and a bulb. It's a very simple setup, but if you don't know what you're supposed to be looking for, it's not really a treat to try and figure out.
Click to expand...

I wish someone had put it that simply for when I was asking about metal halide systems. I had no idea why people would buy it in parts. :headshake2: Its why I never bought one. I felt like I was trying to build a rocket. Or at least trying to figure one out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom