Lighting question

[medic29]

My current light set up is an Orbit PC; it states it has 96 watt SunPak Dual Daylight bulb (10,000K & 6,700K) and a 96 watt Dual Actinic (460nm & 420nm).

I am working at setting up a 60 gal reef tank (18x24x36). I'm wondering if this light will be enough for my tank and corals (I only have soft for now).

Also, I don't know that much about the differences in the temperature ratings for the bulbs, but I'm wondering if maybe I should take the "Dual Daylight" bulb out and replace it with a regualr 96-watt 10,000k bulb.

I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts and/or opinions.

[hounddog01]

I would go with the 10000k and actinic bulb. I do not think this will be enough light for much more than low light softies. I would upgrade when possible. I wish I had just gone with MH lights from the start.

[medic29]

So, you think I should replace the "dual daylight" bulb (10,000k/6,700k) and replace it with just a standard 10,000k bulb? Is that your thought??

[humbugy]

if the bulbs are new i wouldn't replace them, set it up with the pc's and see how your corals like it, and if you wanted more ligth you can always add more later, incendetly i have a 2x96w pc (36") fixture laying around without bulbs.....

[hounddog01]

Yes I would go with the 10000k instead of the dual. less chance for hair algae.

[AslanTheKing]

Someone told me when I was first looking at lighting to determine the look I wanted in my tank. Upon doing that, find out the light combos that make that look. I discovered that I liked white with a stong hint of blue. The 14k look was what I settled on and found the T-5ho combo to produce it.

As for lighting, I'll be happy to be the first to suggest T-5. With the individual reflectors you throw a ton of light. Replacement bulbs are less expensive than MH and bulb life is at least as long if not longer. Some folks say T-5 bulbs last up to 18 months. Regardless of that fact, the heat produced by T-5's is minimal. Because of the par with the single reflectors, you can pretty much keep whatever you want.

The key to the whole idea is to figure out what kind of reef and animals you want to keep. That will determine the lighting options you can choose. That being done, figure out what look you want and the best solution for that look in the options available.

Best of luck!

Peace

Kevin

[medic29]

you mean....that is one of the reasons why I have been battling that ________ stuff! I have been trying to figure it out for a long time. Water conditions have been pretty good, etc., but I still had way more than I wanted. It is way better now, but it drove me nuts for a while. I wonder if one of the problems was these lights.

How long should I run these bulbs before replacing them? No one ever really said anything to me about that. I'm assuming it is not like regular lights where you only replace them when they go out? LOL

[hounddog01]

The 4000 - 7000 range will grow algae. This is what you would put on your sump to grow macro algae. 5500 is probably the most common to use. The older the bulbs the less intense they become they also loose their spectrium and seem to become more yellow or red. This is the optimal time to grow algae. When I start to get hair algae my bulbs are about done. I need to change them now but I have the MH setup and want to use them instead of buying more actinic white uri VHO bulbs. I already bought the actinic for the MH setup.

[humbugy]

im thinking about ditching 4x96w pc for a single iwasaki 15k 175 watt in a la2 or la3 on my growout/fuge
or just going with 4x39w T5's

[medic29]

All of this is still Greek to me:

[i]
im thinking about ditching 4x96w pc for a single iwasaki 15k 175 watt in a la2 or la3 on my growout/fuge
or just going with 4x39w T5's

I kind of understand the kelvin rating and all, but the different types of lights, etc. is pretty confusion. I understand flourescent lighting, and standards lights. I have obiviously seen MV lights; played with halogen lights. But when you all start talking about T5s, T8s, etc. I'm lost. Now I guess I understand how my patients feel when I throw around all of the medical jargon we use (PRN, BID; TID; QID; PR; ACLS; RN; EMT, etc.).

So, if you get the chance and could put some of this info in "English", as I tell people sometimes....talk to me like I'm a 2 year old (oh how I wish!!! LOL); or use the KISS method (Keep It Simple Stupid (or to be politically correct - "Silly")).

[humbugy]

for what its worth i've used the 6500-10000k mixed pc bulbs before, with no hair algae, however, pc bulbs tend to get old quick, ideally they should be replaced every 6-8 months, i've found a year is pushing it.
kelvin ratings can easiest be described as the color of ligth, lower is yellow, like 6500k and higher is blue, like 20,000k.

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/
plug in some halides bulbs you've seen pictures of and you can get a graph of what the spectrum is like.


http://www.advancedaquarist.com/
quite abit of good information, just have to dig a little among older issues.

and this month's http://www.aquariumfish.com have an article about lightning by dr s. joshi

la2 and la3 is just a sqaure reflector made by sunligth supply that has a very wide spread, the la2 is 2x2 feet and the la3 is 3x3 feet.

t5's is just simple a thin flourescent ligth bulb, often fitted with an individual reflector to get more ligth in the tank, they run cooler and last longer than pc bulbs does. i havent used any as a main tank ligth yet, but i got another 90 in the works that im gonna ligth with just t5's