riverwood

whats the best way gluing rocks? drilling holes and using cable ties or just glue them together? im starting out with 45 lbs of fiji rock in my 90 gallon tank...

also i just bought some regular twin strip florescent lights for my tank that cost $110. Im wondering if I should return that and buy VHO since i will eventually be getting anemones? the VHO im thinking about costs 275 and is 440 watts... would that be good for eventually getting 90 lbs of rock with Anemones?

agsansoo

Hello riverwood,
The best way for me to glue live rock is an aquarium safe 2-part epoxy.

By twin strip florescent lights, do you mean power compact. If so this is not enough light for an anemone.

Tumbleweed

Also how big is your tank? How tall is it?

GreenMan13

Other then glue I have seen people use clear acrilc rods mounted to acrilic plated. Then they drilled holes in the rocks and stcked the rocks on each other over the acrilic rod.

riverwood

tank is 4 feet long, 18in wide, and 24in tall... so definately get the VHO?

Tumbleweed

With your tank height being 24" with a T5 light you would need to keep most Anemones near the top of the tank to give them enough light. You may want to consider a MH light system. For that depth I would recomend 2 250W MH lights. This would give you the light you would need for an Anemone to be placed in the bottom of your tank.

riverwood

what about VHO fluorescents? 440 Watts worth... metal halides are a little more expensive than i want to spend

agsansoo

PC or pin-based high-wattage compact fluorescent lamps (HW-CFL) generate ~60 lumens per watt.
VHO T12 lamps produce ~50 lumens per watt.
T5 lighting produces 90-100 lumens per watt.

(I will double check my numbers latter today)

I would recommend MH lights also, based on your tank depth.

Tumbleweed

If you went with T5's and kept it near the top if the tank that would be ok. However Anemones have a tendincy to move so it may move lower and not have enough light.

riverwood

so VHO's would be a waste of money even if it were 440 watts?

agsansoo

Yes they do not penetrate the water like T5's and MH. VHO are mainly used as supplemental lights in a reef tank, not the main lighting.

agsansoo

For one, wattage tells very little about how much PAR a tank is getting. PAR = photosynthetically available radiation. Most lights are designated to have a wattage rating, but this doesn't really mean much. 130 watts of power compact lighting is nothing close to 130 watts of metal halide. How much par you want is dependent on the kind of livestock you plan on having. If you have mushrooms and such, you don't want too high of a par rating. If you plan to have clams and SPS or anemones, you want a ton of par (so mh lighting).