soft corals, light upgrade, and keeping cool

[ianjoe]

I have an eclipse deluxe hood on my 10 gallon tank. The kind with two bulbs. In there I have 1 daylight bulb 1 actinic bulb. Thats 30 watts = 3 wpg. Is this gonna be enough light for some easy soft corals? I see custom sealife has a retrofit 32 watt PC for the eclipse hood. Im considering this if nessessary. However, with my current light, im having a hard time keeping the water temp down. Would this upgrade give me more heat problems? Or do they run about the same temp?

thanks,
ian

 

[Guy W]

Originally posted by ianjoe
I have an eclipse deluxe hood on my 10 gallon tank. The kind with two bulbs. In there I have 1 daylight bulb 1 actinic bulb. Thats 30 watts = 3 wpg. Is this gonna be enough light for some easy soft corals? I see custom sealife has a retrofit 32 watt PC for the eclipse hood. Im considering this if nessessary. However, with my current light, im having a hard time keeping the water temp down. Would this upgrade give me more heat problems? Or do they run about the same temp?

thanks,
ian

The 32 watts of PC light may be better than the 30 watts of normal florescent light depending on the light spectrums of each type of bulb. In larger PC bulds I know that not only do they have more watts, but the also have a good deal more lumens which make them closer to natural sun light. do you have any more information about each.

It also could cause more heat, and the best way to reduce that is with ventilation and air movement such as a fan over the water. a small computer style fan is best for this if you can find a way to retrofit it into the hood.

http://www.hellolights.com/fans.html - These fans are converted to be plugged into a 120v wall outlet instead of a 12v computer power supply.

Guy

 

[mogurnda]

PC fixtures are somewhat more efficient than normal output (NO), so you'll get more lumens per watt. Although it's written for plants, this analysis of different types of lighting is very helpful. My guess is that you'll get about the same amount of heat.

For the corals, Aquarium Hobbyist has some very nice daylight/actinic combination bulbs.

But you may have enough light for some of the easier softies. Before you spend a lot, I'd suggest just doing the experiment. If they grow, you're OK.

 

[ianjoe]

do you have any more information about each?

One bulb just says Daylight by Eclipse made by Marineland.
The other is a Coralife, 100% Actinic 03 Blue 7100K

Here is a link for the retrofit kit I was looking at. Link

Also thanks for the fan link. I was thinking about sneaking a fan in there but didn't want to mess with wiring.

thanks,
ian

 

[Guy W]

Those lights look ok to me. If they are priced right I'd give them a try. Keep an eye on the heat. A 14" light shouldn't make it much hotter but I'd have a thermometer in your tank and if it goes up see about one of those fans.

Guy