Actinic Blue

[dcole]

I'm aware that many reef experts advise at least 4 watts per gallon, but would Actinic Blue lights at 65 watts a piece count towards the required wattage? For example, if I have a 55 gallon with power compact lighting with 2 65 watt Actinic Blue and 2 65 watt ultra daylight (white), would this be sufficient to grow corals?

[kmk2307]

Hey dcole,

[welcome]

I believe the actinic wattage does count towards the total. What size tank do you have? What are its dimensions. That should be good lighting on a reasonably sized tank.

HTH,
Kevin

[dcole]

55 gallon with about 75 lbs LR and 2-3 inch live sand bed. Still cycling. Any other thoughts give this information? The lighting is a custom Sea Life with Moonlight.

[friedenmeister]

i don't know but good question. i just upgraded to two 96 watt pc bulbs. i will try to post some pics sometime. one bulb is true actinic and the other is 10,000 k. i also will attempt corals.

[kmk2307]

Hey dcole,

That is a pretty good light fixture. A friend of mine has the 36" and she has been very happy. As far as keeping corals you might want to be sure your light is strong enough for a perticular species before investing in it. Many hard "SPS" corals, most species of anemones, and most photosynthetic-symbiont clams might not have enough light. Pretty much all octocorals (soft corals), polyp, and "mushroom" corals should do well. Most LPS like brain corals, plate corals, bubble corals, etc should do well. I believe there are a few species of highly photosynthetic LPS corals though.

You might want to try find people with the same light fixture and see what kinds of corals they are successfully keeping.

HTH (hope this helps),
Kevin

[BryanJ]

Yes you count the actinics. If you don't already have the light I would consider buying t5's as this will open you up to keeping clams and some sps. Go to ReefGeek.com to buy the fixture they have the best prices to my knowledge. Lights on a reef tank is definitely not the place to cheap out. I would get the 6 bulb fixture but the four bulb will work if money is a issue.

[csunracer]

Originally posted by BryanJ
Yes you count the actinics. If you don't already have the light I would consider buying t5's as this will open you up to keeping clams and some sps. Go to ReefGeek.com to buy the fixture they have the best prices to my knowledge. Lights on a reef tank is definitely not the place to cheap out. I would get the 6 bulb fixture but the four bulb will work if money is a issue.

I also second the suggestion of going with T5's.In the past I have ran power compacts, metal halides, and vho's. I recently purchased T5's from reefgeek and I have to say they were the best online experience I have ever had. T5's have great luminence, are energy efficient, stay relatively cool with the right ballast (ice cap of course) and last longer than most other bulbs.

[sw-addict]

We also have the csl moon-lite fixture its been runing our 120g 24inches deep for 11 months now. We have kept 5 kinds on anemones various polyps and mushrooms that have all thrives under this lighting. I will not try to keep a clam ar mos stony corals until i supplement the lighting with mh.

[kmk2307]

sw-addict,

What kind of anemones are you keeping under that lighting? How long have you had them?

Kevin