gullmo Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 OK, I finally have my standard 20 gallon tank set up. I have 30 lbs. of live rock, about a 4-5 inch dsb, two minijet powerheads, and a cpr bakpak skimmer. Everything seem to be doing fine during the cycle, however I am worried about my lighting. I have a 65 watt smartlite from customsealife and am worried that may not be sufficient. The only corals I intend on keeping are mushrooms, colony/star polys, and maybe xenia. Am I freaking out about the lights because all the posts I read here have like 110 watt minimums. Someone please ease my mind about my lights or tell me that my insanity is reasonable. Thanks!! Link to comment
BustytheSnowMaam Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 Hi- You need about 5 watts per gallon for soft corals and some LPS corals. Mushrooms would be fine with what you have presently. Tasha Link to comment
Brianc_4 Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 I have a 20gal with 2x55w PCs, and its barely cutting it...your screwed. NO, NO, No, I'm just kidding!! Lighting, as well as anything else in your set up, depends on what you plan on keeping, for some some tolerant softies and mushrooms you should be O.K. Just use common sense on the placement of the corals. Get your tank stable, add a couple of mushrooms, and when you want to add more light loving critters, you can always add more light when you and your wallet are ready. Good luck! : Link to comment
LEEWINK Posted September 5, 2002 Share Posted September 5, 2002 just kidding also, we love it ...... ok, as for your tank at present, i don't see a prob with most things, only possibly the xenia. Try placing high in the tank to absorb more light strength, you may well find your lighting at present slightly low. My next project for my 16 gall (not sure on amount converted to u.s) will be a 150 watt metal halide, with single or twin actinic blue tube, xenia will love this (i lost about £60 - $80+ worth under n.o. tubes). Also in the future i want to add clams, so this would be ideal for those too. You may even want to look toward 175+ in total with say other tubes also, i'll leave for others now, and you can make your mind up then, cheers, lee Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted September 6, 2002 Share Posted September 6, 2002 Hope this helps ease you worries: People over exaggerate lighting requirements -Yes I just said that- it's true! I'm keeping a 12 gallon with xenia, shrooms, porites, zooanthids ect and I'm using a 32W SmartLight. If you actually figure it out you have more W/sq inch of surface area in your tank. The spectrum fall off is not going to be that great in your little tank, so depth is just not an issue. No worries you are sittin' pretty with lights... Now I wouldn't recommend SPS or clams, but you will probably have no problems with most softies and LPS corals! hope that makes you feel a little better **also a 15 gallon with 32W can house xenia, star polyps, shrooms, zooanthids, ect... considering that a 15 is 75% your tank and your lighting is 200% more than a 32W I think you will find that you won't really have any problems -have a wonderful day or evening! Link to comment
mimie Posted September 10, 2002 Share Posted September 10, 2002 That calculates to 3 watts/gal. You're ok. Esp. with the livestock you currently have. Best, Link to comment
LEEWINK Posted September 10, 2002 Share Posted September 10, 2002 "That calculates to 3 watts/gal. You're ok. Esp. with the livestock you currently have." 3 watts a gallon, seems on the low range to me. seems ok to have low lighting, as long as you place everything close to the top of tank, me, i prefer to use all available space. Also if i use a 1x150 watt halide, i can still have slightly less light lovers on the bottom, but will far benefit the light lovers over say a conventional bulb system. cheers, lee :) Link to comment
Mnesarchus Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 I have more than 10w/g. Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 9.0 watts/g on my 37 and 8.25 on my 40 Long. 3.2 Watts/g on one of my 10 gal, its all depending on what U want to keep. Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 LOL, I love everyone's watts/gallon rules (hey I give them too, I guess it is peer pressure )... It is actually an incredibly inaccurate way to do things... Volume and surface area do NOT increase or decrease at the same rate!!! This is a major flaw in the "rule." If you want to compare watts/gallon you need to do so on tanks of the same size! Also people seem to greatly overestimate the amount of light required to keep certain inhabitants (not a terrible thing, they are trying to error on the side of caution, but the estimates keep growing and growing until they are ridiculously high)!! People around here screamed at people who wanted to keep clams under a 27W in a 6 gallon tank! -this was done successfully not once, but MANY times here in San Diego! Almost everything in my tank under the 32W PC was in there when I had 30W on NO, INCLUDING MY PORITES (an SPS -a very low light sps). Everything was thriving under my 30W of NO, of course their growth rates have increased significantly with the upgrade in lighting, but it is possible to keep things (happily) under MUCH less lighting: 30W of NO approx = 10-15W of PC (which with your watts/gallon thingy -that is somehow magically supposed to account for the difference in surface area- that is 1W per gallon: THAT IS LOW LEVEL, yet doable if you know what you are keeping)!!!! You guys would MURDER someone who said that they were going to do this... and it is POSSIBLE, it is all a matter of what you want to keep --ok I'll step down from my soap box now... -I am certainly not encouraging people to try tanks on the low level of lighting... but I will NOT tell them that they "cannot" do it, for I think we ALL know that it IS possible.... we would just prefer to be able to keep a wider variety of inhabitants. *and Gullmo, I am NOT suggesting that you are on the "low level!!" You will be just fine keeping softies, LPS corals (can't think of any that would need higher lighting at this moment), and porites (if you wish to keep an SPS just so you can say you have one... Also X-mas tree worms come on these guys)! You too can expect high growth-rates for your corals! Link to comment
gullmo Posted September 12, 2002 Author Share Posted September 12, 2002 I couldn't agree with you more printerdown. I think the whole watts per gallon thing is garbage. Mostly because of the point you made about the pc's being three times stronger than a regular NO light. Just to be sure, I have decided to supplement my low light corals by using an extra URI actinic 03 15 watt light. So now I have a whopping 80 watts total. I think that may be enough for a few clams and some sps coarls!!!! Wish me luck! ha ha Link to comment
johnrags1234 Posted September 15, 2002 Share Posted September 15, 2002 i have 10.4 watts/g but i still wouldnt keep light loving clams. because it still just 26 watts of pc lights. maybe a squasama (spelling?) i had a 20g and i had 2 no on it housed a show size leather. I think water quality can make up for lower light conditions. i think you are fine. i did eventualy get a csl prizm pendant thingy with 3 x 32 pc's but i didnt REALY need it it was an xmas gift. anyway if in the future you feel like upgrading id recomend the pendant Link to comment
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