Rockybob Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 Hello all, I'm new to this forum, and if you don't mind would like to ask a few questions. My first is about lighting a 20gal tank. I want to use PC fluorescent lighting, but am unsure of the wattage. What sort of cooling do these need? What amout of clearance from the water level would you reccomend? Thanks for the help in advance. Rocky Link to comment
Masoch Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 55/65 watt bulbs are ~21 inches long -- most 20 gallon tanks are 24 Mine are a cuple inches over the water ... and the two bulbs are cooled with a 60mm PC fan. With a decent-sized hood, I wouldn't need the fan -- my fixture's barely big enough for the two bulbs. A coupla' those puppies and your 'shrooms 'n' polyps (probably even LPS) will be quite happy. More light-loving species are more touch'n'go. Link to comment
lizbeth Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 I would suggest 2x55 also. I highly recommend the AHS retro kits. http://www.ahsupply.com/ Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 It seems like anything less than 2x55 or 2x65 on a 20 gal would not be suffcient for much of anything. Would 1x 65 even grow shrooms? I did ponder 2 or even four 75 watt VHO over a 20 Gallon, but that would definitely not be as effiecent as PC's. What do you guys think? Link to comment
Masoch Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 [Donning my junior, reeftard, noob-grade lab coat ...] From what I've read, you can generally corals and anenomes in lower lighting conditions than most folks would reccomend, but the trick seems to be that you gotta feed the bejeebus out of 'em; you have to replace the calories that they aren't getting through photosynthesis somehow. Feeding your corals boat-loads of food = massively jacking up your bio-load = potential problems with nutrient export and / or ammonia / nitrite / nitrate problems and / or nuisance algae growth. Feeding extremely heavily + low light = healthy critters in many cases, but they will look extremely drab because they'll shed their funky looking symbiant algae. [Lab coat off.] That said .... I have a thriving colony of sea mat polyps in the bottom of my 20 gallon under 2x64 watt PC, and I just moved my plain ol' button polyps from the top third to the middle of my tank; they were only opening fully just before lights on. The button polyps seem much happier now. And my shrooms are thriving in a sheltered spot in the bottom of the tank. I could probably add an LPS to the top of tank w/o much ado. So ... you could probably grow less demanding polyps 'n' all the shrooms you could handle under just 1 55 watter, you'd just place 'em higher than I have. And, no matter what your lighting, you still have to feed polyps; they get carbs and little else from their algae. Oh, god. I read too much. Somebody stop me. I need help. No. Really. Link to comment
wetworx101 Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 Those new coralife aqualights come in a 2x65w 24" model for just about $100. Look cool too. I had one, replaced it with a 175watt MH pendant instead of adding another 65w (for a total of 3x65w!!). The MH runs cooler because of all the open air over the tank now allowing the whole thing to cool better. The 175watt is a hamilton reefsun on sale at pet solutions for $200. Link to comment
catweh00 Posted April 23, 2003 Share Posted April 23, 2003 I keep clams under 2x65 watt on my 20L. Believe me, its enough light, just place them high--although my deresa and squamosa are in the sand. Link to comment
Rockybob Posted April 23, 2003 Author Share Posted April 23, 2003 Thanks for the input. The tank in question is a vintage "Metaframe" stainless unit with a slate bottom. The hood I'll be retrofitting has quite a bit of room underneath for a twin pc unit. How well do the combo Actinic/daylights work as apposed to seperate lamps? Link to comment
Masoch Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 50/50's work great; one of the neato things about PC's is that they're ... basically two bulbs on one connection. Each half can have different phosphors. But ... if you sweet-talk your LFS, see if you can arrange to bring home 1 50/50, 2 10ks, and one actinic and play around with the lighting combo you like most, and return the other bulbs. 1 50/50 +actinic = deep-water blue (very blue, light is not as intense as) ... 1 10k + actinic (medium-blue, a decent balance for most) ... and so on. 2 10ks will look very white, but will give at or near maximum growth for corals. Good luck! I like my lighting, 10k + actinic, but am thinking of adding some blue LEDs to bump up the blue a bit without losing my current intensity. It never ends Link to comment
ImLon2 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 I would have to agree that the 50/50 would look a lot better. I just put 2 x 32w on my 10gal from AHSupply. And got actinic and 6500k. Now I kick myself because no mater how I arrange the bulbs It looks dark in the back and Bright in the front. So now I'm going to put in 2 50/50 bulbs and place them like this WHITE-BLUE-BLUE-WHITE (because each bulb has two tubes). That way the front and back get the same amount of light to help even it out a lot better. Plus it should look a lot bright because the 50/50 are Actinic and 10,000k Just my $.02 Link to comment
reefphreak Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 Sorry to hijack this thread for a second but where is a good place online to buy a 24" VHO setup? Link to comment
J-Bass Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 reefphreak, here.... http://hellolights.com/24vhoretkit.html Link to comment
Rockybob Posted May 8, 2003 Author Share Posted May 8, 2003 thanks all who replied to my question. I ended up with the 2x55 from A H supply. It is nice that they are about 15 minutes away, no showroom, but when I showed up the kit was ready for me. I was able to mock up the vintage hood with both reflectors, when it is finished I'll post a pic or two. Are there fans that will work, like small pc 2" size that can be used with 110 voltage? I'm sure a couple of vent holes will sufice but always like to keep options open, thanks again, Rocky. Link to comment
skeletor Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 I started with 2x55w over my 20 but decided it wasn't enough so I squeezed another 2x55w bulbs in there..... :-) Link to comment
wetworx101 Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 Uh, did nobody else catch it when he said the tank he wants to use is a slate-bottom metaframe?? Rockybob, you really shouldnt use that tank for a saltwater tank. They are made with a slate bottom, non-salt-safe putty to hoild the glass together, and metal. I had a 10g like that once. I was lucky that the tank had been siliconed all over, but even if you were to do that, you still would have exposed metal...rusting away and exposing your reef to toxins. Link to comment
Rockybob Posted May 16, 2003 Author Share Posted May 16, 2003 wetworx101 The frame of the tank is actually stainless, and I'm pretty sure it was used once before as a salt water tank. The slate thing has bothered me though. The second time I sealed it I skimmed the bottom with Aquarium sealer just to prevent the water from leaching through. what kind of problems, besides the obvious leaks did you have specifically? Link to comment
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