[jb92]

from what iv been reading and hearing about setting up reef aquariums , it seems like you have to have about 4 different lights on a reef tank , is this true and what are the lights you have to have.

 

[trreherd]

no, i think you missunderstood what you read. You have about 4 different ways of getting light. flourecent,t-5,powercompact,metal halide, and moon lighting. Im guessing all these different types of lighting are getting you confused, but its simple relly t-5,powercompact and regular flourecnt are all tubes and there good for a medium lit reef tank. The other is metal halide and thats for higher light demanding coral. actanic lighting is blue light(420-460nano-meter) But most other lightinhg is measured in kalvin. lower kalvin(2,000-9,000) are more yellow, and thats good for freshwater plants. higher calvins(10,000-20,000k) are more blue/white and thats good for reef tank lighting. For reef tanks the best lighting is actanics mixed with regular lighting. So you can get the flourecent,t-5, and cp in actanic or any other color you want, but metal halide only comes in 65k-20k. Moonlighting(led) is for nightime veiwing. not neccesary.

 

[jb92]

so how many lights would you need

 

[trreherd]

You can only use one, or you can used multiple. I am only using compactflourecent But i will only beable to keep low and medium level light demanding coral. You need to figure out what kinds of corals you want to keep and we can decide the best lighting for you. We also need to know what size your tank will be. Alot of people use two types of ligthing, metal halide pendent mixed with some cp or t-5 actanic.

 

[musho3210]

no, i think you missunderstood what you read. You have about 4 different ways of getting light. flourecent,t-5,powercompact,metal halide, and moon lighting. Im guessing all these different types of lighting are getting you confused, but its simple relly t-5,powercompact and regular flourecnt are all tubes and there good for a medium lit reef tank. The other is metal halide and thats for higher light demanding coral. actanic lighting is blue light(420-460nano-meter) But most other lightinhg is measured in kalvin. lower kalvin(2,000-9,000) are more yellow, and thats good for freshwater plants. higher calvins(10,000-20,000k) are more blue/white and thats good for reef tank lighting. For reef tanks the best lighting is actanics mixed with regular lighting. So you can get the flourecent,t-5, and cp in actanic or any other color you want, but metal halide only comes in 65k-20k. Moonlighting(led) is for nightime veiwing. not neccesary.

missed a few, from what you said there is also VHO and incandescent. VHO is similar to power compact and t-5's. It is in between t5 and power-compact in the light scale (i think) and is a popular light. They also come in blue light antic tubes. Incandescent is a worthless light in reef tanks, although you can get a cheap 200 watt incandescent bulb and say you have 10 wpg in a 20 gallon tank, the corals will die since the color of incandescent isnt what the corals want so stay clear of these.

 

[usmc121581]

actanic lighting is blue light(420-460nano-meter)

Trreherd actinics go all the way to 470nm. Coralife has a new actinic bulb that is royal blue and burns at 470nm. wa


For what type of lighting you need actinics for the corals to feed on. But it depends on what type of corals yu are going for. You can always get MH lighting and do softies.

 

[jb92]

ok thanks , i will be buying a tank in a few months as my grandad is clearing a 16foot shelf in his garage and has said i can have the whole shelf for my tanks.

 

[trreherd]

Musho if incandesent and vho are both worthless(from what i hear) than why bother mentioning them?
''Trreherd actinics go all the way to 470nm''
Ok im just triing to get him a basic understanding of lighting, so can we not try and confuse him(by geting all technical) and instead help with his questions?

 

[musho3210]

Musho if incandesent and vho are both worthless(from what i hear) than why bother mentioning them?
''Trreherd actinics go all the way to 470nm''
Ok im just triing to get him a basic understanding of lighting, so can we not try and confuse him(by geting all technical) and instead help with his questions?

Sorry, VHO is not worthless and is very good, incandescent is worthless and no use. I brought it up since if you follow the wpg rule only and see a 25 dollar 500 watt incandescent hood and think your getting like 10 wpg, it would be no good. Its more of a heads up, im mentioning all lights in the hobby.

 

[usmc121581]

Musho if incandesent and vho are both worthless(from what i hear) than why bother mentioning them?
''Trreherd actinics go all the way to 470nm''
Ok im just triing to get him a basic understanding of lighting, so can we not try and confuse him(by geting all technical) and instead help with his questions?

Why not give the right info, I was just tring to inform you of that. Thats not technical. Why metion them because they are still considered lighting.

 

[trreherd]

musho vho should not have been mentioned because its going out of style, the tubes are too expensive reletive to t-5 type lighting. You should have re-read his original question before mentioning incandesent OR this super actanic bulb usmc mentioned. Theres no need to try and confuse him.

 

[usmc121581]

musho vho should not have been mentioned because its going out of style, the tubes are too expensive reletive to t-5 type lighting. You should have re-read his original question before mentioning incandesent OR this super actanic bulb usmc mentioned. Theres no need to try and confuse him.

Actually if your read up on things its no super actinic bulb. Its what the actinics burn at. Its no more money then what a 420nm actinic cost just looks better. I just metioned that coralife come out with a new royal blue actinic bulb. that happens to be a 470nm. It doesnt matter what color actinic he goes for. just more options. I would also like to give him all info and let him decide what looks he wants.

 

[musho3210]

going out of style doesnt mean there not for sale anymore, it is a type of light and i am explaining that. I still see stores around here selling VHO lighting and incandescent, i have the right to tell since it is part of the hobby and has to do with lights. Why are we arguing over the fact that i told jb92 theres such thing as VHO and incandescent light? We gave him/her what we know and we should respect each other for that since we both helped, dont argue with each other.

VHO is a strong light, tube for tube, VHO has more watts so its more expensive to pay for tubes, but you get more watts per tube.

also jb, NO lights arent that good use anymore since you need many tubes to have at least medium light in your tank, say you have a 75 gallon tank and you are looking for about 750 watts, you would need around 18 48" tubes, highly unpractical. But with MH light you would need around 2 MH 250 watt bulbs and maybe a few PC antic blues to suplement it to get 750 watts. NO is good for fish only and FOWLR but isnt that good for reef tanks.