Richard Van Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Hello all, I am planning to buy a 5.5gal pico tank..my question is will a 20watt pc light would be good enough for sps?...I will place it up high...if not how many watts should i have for a 5.5? Link to comment
FryedFish Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Im not good with SPS (my first attempt is aproching, a 10 gallon with a MH 150 watt lamp, don't even know if thats good enough) but I do know thats definatly not enough. Link to comment
Argent Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Hmmm I think 20 might be a bit low for SPS but I'm no expert -- I have 96w PC over my 5.5 and just have zoas. Link to comment
FryedFish Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 argent ( bows down to his gr8ness!) you think 150 over a ten will cut it? PS: You joined NR on my birthday! LOL Link to comment
tinyreef Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 i don't believe that light will be sufficiently intense or even enough lumens (there's a subtle difference based upon area and area of light emission) for that tank. pc's can be used for sps (e.g. brooklynjohnny's sps/clam kitchen tank) but it isn't optimal imho. aside from the lighting though, the difficulty with sps in such a small system (besides the usual equipment, feeding, and livestock difficulties) would be supplying the correct water dynamics sps (assuming acropora here) would likely need. nanos and picos might contain the same water as the traditional/larger tanks but the way the water acts is significantly different at the smaller scale. partly because of lack of appropriate equipment for the nano-world, partly because of space constraints, and partly because of the properties of the water itself (e.g. surface tension, minimum swirl sizings, etc.). imo (which don't mean much in the world of stony corals) you'd really need a 15H or similar height tank to be able to generate the water dynamics appropriately. otoh, i believe johnny's tank was a 10g so i'm a stony ideeot anyways. how about 15H or larger for easier setup? as for lighting, imo it should be mh (again for ease) but not necessary (again, johnny's example). hth Link to comment
brent-konieczny Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Look at the monti in my 5.5 tank thread. The thing was grown entirely from a single 28 watt 50/50 pc bulb. I think you could make it work easily if your corals are positioned high enough. However, if you haven't bought the equipment yet and would like the faster growth get a 28watt x2 combo or a 70 watt halide. You will be able to save yourself the grief of buying more equipment down the road. Link to comment
non-photosynt Posted September 9, 2006 Share Posted September 9, 2006 Take a look at this, and that. Link to comment
exigency Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 should i be freaked out that your alias is my name? Link to comment
Daemonfly Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Best lighting for a 5.5g, IMHO: - 70w MH (could even do 10k with 1x or 2x 28/32w PC actinics) - 2x or 3x 28/32w PCs The 28w & 32w(I think some are longer than others) are best fit for 5.5g dimensions, PC wise. Link to comment
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