Possilbe changing my 55 to salt...

[cichlidtom]

I'm thinking about doing this. Can someone recommend some things for me to research, look at, etc.? specifically lighting, from what i have read, a real spendy part in having a salt tank. What would be a good, beginner set of lights? Still bright enough to keep some hard corals, but nothing SUPER bright.

thanks,
thomas j

 

[drywallguy29]

When you say "research" what do you mean cost of lighting, wattage to animal requirements?Are you looking for a supplier or just general info what lights can keep what?
Good reefing

 

[cichlidtom]

mostly general info on lights. stuff like (ex.)10,000 K, and how to know how many watts, what really matters in light to the fish, actinics, why sometimes 10 watts of flourescent is equal to 50 watts of incadescent(that one really gets me)

thanks
Thomas j

p.s. would this be a good starting set of lights? -----> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 65030&rd=1

 

[ChrisRD]

Try not to think in terms of watts. Watts are just a measure of how much power the lighting is consuming, which doesn't necessarily correlate well with how much light is being produced, or more importanly, how much is reaching your corals. There are several other factors involved including lamp type, reflectors, ballasts, water clarity, distance between the lamps and the corals, etc.)

In general, the most efficient form of lighting in the hobby is metal halide. These lamps will get the most light to your corals for the power being consumed. Fluorescents are the next best option with T-5s probably being the most efficient of the fluorescent choices. VHO and PC setups work fine, but are not as efficient.

Incandescent lighting is generally not used in the reef aquarium hobby because it's nowhere near as efficient as halide or fluorescent lighting. When see a claim that "10 watts of flourescent is equal to 50 watts of incadescent" what that's basically saying is that the fluorescent lamp consuming 10 watts is producing about as much light as the incandescent lamp that's consuming 50 watts.

As for lighting and fish - in general you can use whatever lighting you like as far as the fish are concerned. What types of photosynthetic corals/inverts you're going to keep will play the largest role in what type of lighting serves you best.

As for "K" or Kelvin ratings - it's just a measure of the lamps apparent color. These ratings are only of limited usefulness since they often vary widely from one manufacturer to another.

As for actinics - they're not required, but they do produce light in a useable spectrum and enhance the aesthetic appearance of the tank. Sortof a personal preference thing really...

BTW, at this stage one of the best things you can invest in is a good book or two. Check the links in my sig - I'd recommend Tullock's "Natural Reef Aquariums" and/or Fenner's "The Conscientuous Marine Aquarist" as starter reef books.

 

[hdtran]

mostly general info on lights. stuff like (ex.)10,000 K, and how to know how many watts, what really matters in light to the fish, actinics, why sometimes 10 watts of flourescent is equal to 50 watts of incadescent(that one really gets me)

thanks
Thomas j

p.s. would this be a good starting set of lights? -----> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 65030&rd=1

50 W of incandescent is basically 50 W of heat, with some light added. The light produced by an incandescent light is the glow of a red-hot (well, actually, white-hot) filament. Most of the energy used is converted to heat (infrared) photons.

Fluorescent lights are a more efficient method for converting electricity to visible photons, which is why you can get equal brightness (in the visible range) with less power. Basically, a fluorescent light uses electricity to make a plasma that emits UV; the UV hits a phosphor coating on the bulb, which then emits visible light.

Rules of thumb of W/gal are now in disfavor, though the numbers 3-5 W/g are often bandied about. The depth of your tank is a factor.

What you really are facing is the decision between using some form of fluorescent (usually VHO (stands for very high output) or CF (compact fluorescent)), or HID (high intensity discharge), more commonly called (in the aquarium world) metal halide (or MH) lighting.

The advantage of MH is that it emits more photons/sq cm of lamp, so the light is more intense, and can penetrate to greater depth of tank (and can be better focused with a reflector). The disadvantage of MH is that it is hotter & the hardware is somewhat more expensive. If you wish to keep tridacna clams or some so-called SPS, though, you will need that higher intensity of MH lamps.

The "K" refers to the color of the lamp, if the lamp were a blackbody radiator. Sunlight is about 6500 K. Lower temperatures (say 4000 K) are redder, while higher temperatures (say 8000 K) are bluer. A 10000 K bulb (also called a 10K bulb, which can be confusing) is bright white with a blue cast to it. A 20K bulb is blue. A 13K bulb is bluer than a 10K bulb. Actinic is another name for blue.

The fish don't really care what color the bulbs are, nor how bright. You care, because bright lighting with some blue in it makes the fish look better, and bright and intense lighting helps your photosynthetic critters stay happy.

I won't speak to the e-bay bulbs. I recommend that you (a) patronize a good LFS, or if not available, (b) the reefs.org sponsors.

 

[cichlidtom]

thanks a lot for the long replies! so, the higher K the brighter? so kinda the better? what about 50/50s?

thomas j

 

[hdtran]

No, the higher the "K," the bluer the look of the lamp. The "K" rating (degrees kelvin) states how closely the lamp matches a blackbody radiating light, heat, UV, microwaves, etc. So a 20K (20 kilo kelvin) lamp is outright blue, while a 10K lamp is white with a tinge of blue.

A 50/50 fluorescent has both white and blue phosphors (geekly speaking, it doesn't have white phosphors, but it has a balance of different phosphors which add up to white).

Ditto ChrisRD's recommendation to spend some $20-$50 on some books before you convert. If you want to go cheap on books, Tullock's "Your First Saltwater Aquarium" is less than $10, and quite good for the money.

Don't get hung up on the various K's, but rather, concentrate on what looks good & is easy to install/use/replace. While MH may give you the most lumens/W, they can also give your arms the most burns/week when feeding or cleaning tank...