Have I got enough lighting?

[bwings]

Hi,

 

I know this should be in the lighting forum but nobody seems to

post there!

 

I have a Juwel Lido aquarium (l00 litres) and have always

had lighting issues because of the dimensions of the tank

(18" bulbs). But yesterday I decided to double up the lighting

by piggy backing an extra bulb to the existing mount.

 

So I now have 2 x 18" 10,000k bulbs, and 1 x 18" 50/50.

 

My question being, is this adequate enough lighting to maintain

a reef tank of this size? Or should I also piggyback the rear

bulb and if so what other type of bulb should I introduce?

 

thanks in advance

 

b

[southpaw23]

i'm no expert on this but i think what you're gonna need to know is how much wattage is in those bulbs for us to safely say if you've got enough light....as far as the temperature and color spectrum of the bulbs, you're fine on that end....

 

someone correct me if i'm wrong here...but hope this helps

[bwings]

Sorry!

 

I think they're 15w... thats the only wattage

coralife make for the 18w bulbs as far as I know.

 

So I've got

 

2 x 15w 10,000k coralife

 

and

 

1 x 15w 50/50 coralife

 

over a 20" wide 100 litre tank with a fluval 304, prizm skimmer,

internal fluval 4 and a power head.

 

with 20% RO every fortnight.

 

would this be sufficient for maintaining a small reef tank?

 

thanks for your help !

 

b

[Deimos]

Bwings et al.,

 

For the Yankees here 100L=approximately 25 gallons..slightly more..maybe 29 (thinking out loud in a post..bad idea)

 

45 watts of NO fluroescent really isn't all that grand for a tank of that size. I used the same amount on my 10 gallon originally and got VERY marginal results with most of the things I tried..and by the sounds of things this 100L tank you have is 2 times again deeper than my 10. (the footprint of a 10 gallon tank is 20" X 11") You just aren't going to get the penetration that you need with that lighting...especially near the bottom..even for most softies. The way I see it, you've got three options: 1) Invest in Power Compact lighting...its got greater PAR, 2) Invest in Metal halide lighting..the best option and the one I chose over my 10 gallon, 3) keep only non-photosynthetic corals (definately NOT the best option for a new reefkeeper). I guess a fourth option would be to make it a FOWLR tank...but where's the fun in that?

 

In summation...you need MORE LIGHT!

 

HTH

[bwings]

thanks deimos,

 

well my LFS gave me strict instructions to stay away from

PC lighting....which I must admit sounded a little odd...and told

me to simply double up on my existing lights.

 

He says that they tried out various PC lighting over a period of

months on a couple of their tanks and didnt see any noticable

difference in the results at all.

 

He also claimed that it was yet another 'fad' from america which

didn't live up to all the hype!

 

so here in Europe the suggestion is to keep the 10,000k/50-50

setup...other than that I know I could upgrade to MH but the

cost is out of my budjet at the moment.

 

 

thanks

 

b

[Deimos]

Bwings...

 

Hmm...how did they run this test? Did they keep the same wattage of PC's as they did NO's? If so..thats kind of defeating the purpose..as I'll agree to that point that fluorescent lighting is fluorescent lighting..be it PC's or NO's...but the thing about PC's is that you can cram more wattage into a smaller space. If you set it up right you could probably get twice the wattage in the same amount of space..its not so much an increase in light as a decrease in the amount of space they take up. I'd seriously look into it as many of the other members of this forum can attest to the "power of the PC" lol. I personally can't..as I've never used them...but I have seen some of the things they can do over others tanks..and they ARE better than NO's.

[FlyGTI]

I'd have to agree with the idea of packing more light into the tank, but depending on how you have your rock stacked, if you position easy to keep, low light corals (mushrooms, perhaps), you can keep them. If you're trying to keep much else, you might run into problems. I think that your LFS probably needs to re-run the test and see what they come up with.

 

Later.

[FlyGTI]

Sorry...omitted something that might explain the previous post better. Position the low light corals near the top of the rock so they get the most light that they can, and you'll probably be okay.

 

Sorry for the confusion.

[onthefly]

He also claimed that it was yet another 'fad' from america which didn't live up to all the hype!

 

Ah yes!........Rock n'Roll, Blues, Jazz, Levi's, In and Out Burger, an PC lighting.........They'll never last!!!!!

 

Just take a look at a tank with a 15W NO bulb and a 13W PC.....no comparison!! Your LFS is leaving a MASIVE gap bwtn NO bulbs and MH's. That is where PC's happily live!!!

 

That being said, it all depends on your livestock! Like GTI said, if only have shrooms and zoos, they'll "live" near the top of the tank, but to get thriving growth, throw some PCs on there.