Power Compact Questions !

[I14Green]

I have a 15 Gallon reef tank that is 18" deep and has about a 12" X 12" top opening.

First I have a 32 watt smart light Power compact light double bulb unit( 1 full atinic and one 10,000k daylight) Do I need more light for this tank ? I had 2 flourescent 24 Watt bulbs on it before and it was OK !

Second question is the P.C. unit is currently about 6 inches from the water surface and I have no canopy what so ever. Should I move the lights closer to water and add a peice of glass or something ?? Seems my corals were doing better under the flourescent lights sitting right on top of the tank, 2"'s from the water ??

 

[Dawlfandav]

This depends what kind of corals you have. It they are mushrooms or such, then it may be enough. If they are more light demanding corals, then you may want more like 4 watts or more of light per gallon of water. Also 18 inches for 32 watts is not enough to get to the bottom if you have corals there.
Hope this helps.

 

[monkeyboy]

Rich-n-poor: Supposedly pc's put out more light per watt than flourescents do so he very well may have the same or more light. I dont have any hard facts on this, i'd like to get a par comparison chart of some sort.

BTW, i'll be selling a 2x32w fan cooled pc hood thats a foot long in late november, drop me a line if interested.

 

[Goldmoon]

Monkeyboy, according to this site (premium aquatic) you are right.
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PA&Category_Code=Lighting

 

[Rich-n-poor]

seems to me you reduced your wattage from 48 watts to 32 and your corals suffered thats a light reduction of 33% my guess is thats your problem either add another smart lite or supplement it with one of the flourescents

as far as tank depth is concerned i have a 110 watts of power compacts on my 37 which is 24" deep and it does fine blue spectrum bulbs will penetrate to a deeper level due the lghts longer wavelength

_________________
Spyder MR1

 

[I14Green]

Thanks Guys, I appreciate all the help. I have a chart in the Delbeek & Sprung Book "The Reef Aquarium vol 1" that says 1 -32 w PC is equivilent to 3 - 24" Flourescent bulbs - does this make any sense ! The chart is calculated using ( K - color temp as I understand it and microwatts - wattage )I also thought as one post noted that power compacts give off more light per watt. Is this true in practice or just math ? Anyway I moved my 32 W PC down to 4 "'s and I'm hoping the extra spashing does not hurt them. Lets see what Happens !