PowerCompact vs NO

[loonz]

Just wondering,how far can i go if i were to use PC instead of NO fluorescents?What are the corals that could be kept/would survive under PC and not NO?Has anyone here ever made that switch and noticed the difference?What about a combination and what's the ideal combination of lights?I was thinking of 2 PC and 2 NO.Would SPS be a possibility or am i just daydreaming?Pls give me your opinions,thanks in advance!

 

[Sniper308]

What is the size of your tank? How deep is it? How many watts of PC and how many of NO? Im affraid we will need a little more info to answer your question correctly. PC would probably be fine over a shallow tank but would have problems with a tall tank such as a 90g show.

 

[monkeyboy]

PC's put out more lumens per watt, not to mention the dramatic increase in watts per lamp in comparison to NO's. I'd say you're daydreaming about the sps but if the tank is shallow i bet it could be done if you packed the hood.

 

[CnT]

Hey neighbour... heres my setup... 180G reef 6'x2'x2'... 60G refugium, 3" DSB... using only 36W PCs, 7 whites n 7 blues... got shrooms at the bottom n light intensive corals higher up on the LRs... mainly softies n LPSs...

IMO, its the best lighting source to get in our part of the world... MHs r way expensive n the heat will b a problem... hence one step down r the PCs... till i get a chiller, of course...

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

They produce roughly 4 times the lumens per watt vs. NO fluorescents. With 8 W/gal PC I have been able to keep T. crocea happy as a clam for over 2 years; these are the most light-demanding of the Tridacnid clams. I also have several lps and sps corals, but I think some of the sps really do much better under MH lighting.

 

[davelin315]

I have the following under 576W PC lighting (4 actinic bulbs, 2 daylight that will be switched to 10000K bulbs when they burn out next March) and they are all doing well and growing, clams included:

--Soft Corals and Polyps--
Large Colt (Cladiella)
Devil's Hand (Lobophytum)
Finger Leather (Sinularia)
Toad Stool (Sarcophyton trocheliphorum)
Green/Brown Tree Coral (Lemnalia)
Xenia Elongata
Xenia (Pom Pom)
Anthelia
Cabbage Coral (Lobophytum crassum? or Sinularia dura?)
Brown Star Polyps (Clavularia)
Button Polyps - Brown/Red and Green (Palythoa)
Yellow Polyps (Parazoanthus gracilis)
Zooanthid Colony (Zoanthus)
Green Hairy Mushrooms (Actinodiscus)
Red Mushrooms (Actinodiscus/Discosoma)
--SPS and LPS--
Green Candy Cane Coral (Caulastrea furcata)
Blue Ridge Coral (Heliopora coerulea)
Bird's Nest Coral (Seriatopora)
Montipora digitata
Montipora capricornis
Acropora cerealis
Acropora millepora
Acropora formosa
Favites (pink and brown)
Open Brain (Trachyphyllia geoffroyi)
Blastomussa wellsi
Pocillopora
Galaxea
--Miscellaneous Inverts--
Crocea clams
Purple Long Tentacle Anemone (Macrodactyla doreensis)
Green Bubble Anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor)

These are all in a 125 with the lights directly on top of the tank, with some of the acroporas near the bottom, and the croceas spread throughout top to bottom.

 

[loonz]

Sorry that i left out so much info.The tank is about 65g.Depth,if i'm not wrong(tank is not accessible now!

) is about 22".It has a 3" sandbed.

 

[Anonymous]

You'll have no problem with any LPS or softie with PCs. SPS will live, but probably not thrive with the exception of the hardier and lower light varieties (well, montipora).

ty

 

[loonz]

davelin315: Hi,how deep is your tank and do you feed your corals anything other than light? I thought Green/Brown Tree Coral (and some other softies) (Lemnalia)are filter feeders only and not photosynthetic?Maybe i made a mistake.Also,how long have you kept all these corals?And how often do you change the bulbs?Lastly,why do you plan on switching to 10,000k if the daylights are doing fine?

Everyone,thanks for answering!

 

[LINK]

The two important factors in lighting, as far as the life in our tanks are concerned, are spectrum(Wavelength) and intensity(Lumens). Watts per gallon is completly meaningless. It is not even a good rule of thumb because it doesn't consider tank depth or output ratio of the lighting used. All your clams and corals care about is getting enough light in the right spectrum. They don't care if it is from a MH, a PC, or a VHO. Every lighing technology runs at a different efficiency (Simplified as Light/Heat) and output ratio(Lumens/Watt). Provided equal Intensity and spectrum, the real difference in lighting technologies are price, wattage, and heat. In other words, they have different costs, wattage, and heat output for a similar quantity and spectrum of light. Too often we get caught up in the latest thing. Ask any lighting question these days, and you are sure to get 12 "go with MH" responses. I am not flaming anyone, and I don't want to sound as if I am ripping on MHs, but they like all other lighting technologies, have their place.