saltadd Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 hi, new to board, but been browsing for a while. i know this question has been asked a million times but here it is again. i have a 20g long tank, and getting ready to start a nano-reef, i have an existing light fixture that has (3) 55w biax lamps that are 4100k that fits perfectly over my tank, that gives me about 8 watts of light per gallon, is this enough light for a reef system?, also do i need to replace one of the lamps with a actnict (spelled wrong im sure) lamp, and if i do what do you recommend for periods of on/off to start. thanks for any help you can give me. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 lighting is dependent upon the critters you want to keep. I keep my actinic on for about 10 hours and my mh on for about 6 but I will be increasing the mh to 10 and the actinic to 12 now that the algae growth has slowed down. Also have a 13w pc on the fuge that gives the tank a bit of light. that one goes on for 5 hours at night and the whole tank also gets some sunlight in the mornings from sunrise to about 11 Link to comment
MacnReef Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Crakeur, did you not notice the kelvin on his bulbs? saltadd, 4100K is too low of a kelvin. 5000K is mid day in the tropics at like 5ft. I would recommend changing your bulbs to atleast 6700K with one actinic. Just my 2 cents! Crakeur is right about depending on what species! You can grow just about any LPS, softies and some SPS with the light you have. Keep you higher light corals, closer to the light! Link to comment
JDNels Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 Even 6500K is a bit yellow for my taste. I would say go with 2 10K and 1 actinic and thats my six cents worthB) Link to comment
SaltyDawg Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 I agree with JDNels. I have2 55 watt bulbs 1 10000k with 1 03 actinic on my 29 and I have two 13w 6500k bulbs on my 5.5 . The 5.5 looks yellow and the 29 looks very nice blue and white. They say and it is true that judging light for corals by the eye is a bad way to judge. But if you can get the best of both worlds I would opt for that. And thats my 12 cents worth ( Hey! Inflation baby! ) LOL Link to comment
MacnReef Posted February 17, 2003 Share Posted February 17, 2003 JDNels, I said atleast 6700K! I would agree with a 10K or 8800K! Link to comment
JDNels Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Sorry. was not tryin to degrade your post in any way Just Gave my opinion:) Link to comment
MacnReef Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Oops! Sorry! I use the "!" alot and it tends to make it look like I am mad...I glad you put in your input. He prolly read it the same way you did. On my 20H, I run 1-55W 03, 1-55W 6700K, 1-65W 03 and 1-65W 8800K. I think it makes a great color. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.