ray

ok i just did this about QTs so i'm gonna try my luck with lighting... this stuff seems to be kind of tricky...

is it better to have more light than you need? i always feel like its better to have more than less... but i could be wrong... are there any things that more light will affect adversely?

NO, HO, VHO do these all have different fixtures that they use? or can these bulbs be plugged into a normal florescent fixture?

i understand that PC would take a different fixture... and i understand that T5 is a size of bulb... but i don't know if its like a standard florescent bulb...
i'm asking cause i have just a normal light that comes on an aquarium... can i just change out the bulb and be ok for a bit (it just holds one so i know i'll need more) or does it not work that way...

if it will hold me for a little bit that would be great... more money to go somewhere else for the time being... haha... but if not i saw what i though may be a nice lighting system a Current USA 48" 2x65 watt PC setup with lunar LEDs... for my 55 gal tank... is this going to be sufficient for... well what would the be sufficient for?

thanks again so much! you guys have been so great so far! i'm learning alot!!!

sirdarksol

You don't want to severely overdo the light. This can lead to algae problems.

Different outputs of light will have different setups because they have different wattages. I think that, if you have a light whose wattage doesn't go over the fixture's wattage, you can use it. As long as it doesn't overload the ballast, I would think that would work.

T12 is the "standard" fluorescent. There are T8s and T5s, as well, and those take different endcaps and ballasts.

There are, as far as I know, only four reasons to have big, expensive lighting systems:
1. Plants (macroalgae) that need high light.
2. Coral that needs high light.
3. Anenomes that need high light.
4. Clams that need high light.
If you don't have any of these, you should be good for awhile (or indefinitely)

Edit: I deleted your second post and moved this thread to the saltwater section. It'll be easier for you to keep track of answers in one thread rather than two.

Tumbleweed

In the world of salt water aquariums, the 2 biggest unkowns and concerns are that of Lighting and Water Movement. These 2 topics alone can cause much stress and unsertanty.

The first question you need to ask your self is what is the ultimate long term plan for this tank. Knowing this will help steer you down the right path for water movement and lighting. If you are planing on doing a FOWLR tank and no types of corals at all then standard fluorescent bulbs will work just fine. If you plan doing a tank with some soft corals or LPS corals "Large Polyp Stony Corals" then you will need to look into getting somthing in the VHO or PC lighting system. If you wanted to go all out and do SPS "Small Polyp Stony Corals" then you will need a MH lighting system. And when you get into this area you have to start looking at tank depth and height of lights above tank, and many othe factors.
Knowing which direction you want to go and where you want to end up will help you in deciding which lighting system you will need, this way you only have to buy it once.
I can give you recomendations on what you may want to look into, I just need to know your tank demensions and and what your plans for the tank are.

Brian

sirdarksol

I have never heard of halogen being the standard light. All I have heard is that fluorescent is the standard.

Tumbleweed

Opps Brain Fart while typing. Thanks for the catch. I edited my post

ray

48"x21"x12.5" 55 gal...
i also have a 30"x18.5"x12.5" 26 gal tank that a lady just gave me today (new with stand and light and hood... crazy)
anyway i am interested in corals and plants and anenomes down the road some time... i dont think i'm interested in clams...
i'm not really sure yet what corals i'm going to be interested in because right now i only know that some require high light and some don't...
but thank you so far for all the help! and i appreciate all the help to come!

Tumbleweed

Your welcome.
I would leave your lights alone for now, and what untill you decide on what corals you will want. Once you know this then you will be able to make a decission on what lights you will need.
Just an idea on Price. On the low side with PC lights you will be looking in the $175-$300 range. In the MH Lighting system you can be looking at a price of $750-$1500. These prices are for complete sets not just a single bulb.

ray

(first off i want to say i'm a beginner on this stuff... NONE of this is from experience... this is only what i've read so any other beginners out there don't read this and think its gospel! i'm trying to find out if it is correct)

with that being said....

yeah i don't think i'm interested in anything that would require MH system... i was looking into PC systems though and it was looking like 45" 4x65 watt systems weren't too ridiculous... that would give me 260 watts of lighting... but i haven't seen anything that says for this type of whatever you need something in the ballpark of this many watts of lighting...
i found an few articles that said the two things you need to worry with were the wattage and the CRI (Color Rendition Index) or K (kelvin)
and that you may want 3-5 watts per gallon of water... so i would want 165-275 watts for my 55 gal tank now is that actual gallons? cause as i found out (and if i had used common sense i would have known) that even though i have a 55 gal tank i do not have 55 gal of water in that tank...
wattage is the power of the tube and lumens are the actual light output of the tubes they kid of work hand in hand... wattage is the power that sends the lumens out to the tank... so lumens ends up being the delivered light... is this correct?
K (kelvin) is the colour temp. (same thing as CRI and spectrum) and for corals should not be under 5500k.
the lover the K # the closer to the yellow end of the spectrum and the higher the #the closer to white and blue (near the 20,000K range)
- around and under 5500k you get more algae because they prefer the yellow and red spectrum
- 10,000K is going to penetrate the water more getting more light to the coral because it is the blue-white end of the spectrum
- then you have Actinic which helps out with the blue white end of the spectrum corals like the blue light and can absorb it better... so when you are under the 10,000k this will help boost that blue light.
now the wattage helps send the 10,000k or whatever spectrum deeper into the water... so this does not always you need the most K and the most wattage that you can get always... different corals are gonna react different ways to different light settings etc... which i think is why there are so many questions that don't have straight forward "do it this way" answers in the hobby.

a question about Power Compact lights... i hear things like a 9 watt PC can be equal to a 75 watt incandescent, so wouldn't this mean that in a 4x65watt PC lighting system that you are actually getting the equivalent of almost 550watts out of these? is that correct? if it is correct is that overkill?

there seem to be basically 3 types of corals (i'm sure there are tons more but maybe this is a good average listing of things most people would or may have).
Stonies (exterior skeletons)
Soft (no calcium based skeleton)
and SPS's (Soft/Small Polyped Stonies).
SPS's seem to require more dynamic light sources...

there are a few options in the type of lights that you can get...

NO (normal output)
HO (hight output)
VHO (very high output)
PC (power compact)
MH (Metal Halides)

from what i understand NO produce anywhere from 15watts to 58watts according to the size of the bulb (from 18-60") these also include T8 (skinny)and T12 (fatter) bulbs

HO it doesn't seem are used very often anymore so i don't know about them

and VHO can produce 95-140watts (36" = 95 watts, 48" = 110 watts, 60" = 140 watts)

from what i understand NO are usually what comes with your basic aquarium setup and you have to have special setups for VHO (they aren't like the standard florescent bulb... and they have higher wattage so require a special fixture)

MH are way out of my league... from what i understand there are alot of problems that you have to adjust for etc because of the heat that they create... they are suppose to be wonderful if you can get through all of that... but they are like real big incandescent bulbs... so they produce more heat... and you have to get fans for the water surface which causes more evaporation etc... so i'm just gonna stay away from those for now...

PC are what i would like to know more about though... i keep reading that they produce more wattage than what they say.. so if its like a 65 watt... its actually more... any info on this?

do i have most of my facts straight on here?
let me know what i still need to know on all of this... where i've gone wrong and what i've got right!
thanks so much!

also it may be that anemones need 9 - 12 watts of light to thrive in most cases... which in my case for a 55gal tank would be 495-660watts if my math is correct

ray

also there is the t-5 option which seems to have a truer spectrum and higher Kelvin rating than normal florescent and they maybe stay cooler than PCs...
anyone used both of these that can tell me if this is true? from what i was reading T-5 are cheaper to replace the bulbs and last longer than PC (which is what i was leaning toward) and produce less heat than the PCs

Tumbleweed

Like I staited above Lighting and circulation of the water in the tank tend to be the 2 biggest areas of debate in the SW field.
Most of what you stated above is true. The reason that they say or you may of heard that PC bulbs are twice as powerfull as NO pulls is beacuse they are similar in theory but the PC bulb wraps back onto itself giving you the ability to have twice as much power in half the size. "Same reason you go to a Harware store and can get the new energy saving bulbs that last forever and say they are 14W but proced like a 75W." These are PC bulbs.
I do not know much about T5 bulbs or systems I currently have a PC system in my tank and I am ordering a new MH system in the nect 2 months for it.
There is just way too much to explain about lights and I could type a 50 page post on the subject and still barely have scratched the surface. The long and the short of it is, if you are planning on doing anemoes and some soft corals down the line, I would recomend a PC system. Here is a link to a system that would work well in your tank IMOP

http://www.theaquaticdepot.com/48quo...65-with-4.html

2 65w 10k bulbs and 2 65w atinicbulbs. This would give you plenty of light for your tank plans. This is similar to what I have in my tank but I have 12k bulbs instead of 10k. "Personal Prefrence"

ray

yeah i'm finding out that there is alot to it! haha... ive been reading stuff on the net for about 4 hours and just know a little bit more than before (just enough to be dangerous!haha)
i was looking into a 4x65 setup though... so you feel like that would be adiquate for what i have? i was liking the Current USA models i was seeing... anything wrong with them? they have the night leds... which seems like it would be handy
thanks so much for all your help so far! you really know your stuff!!

Tumbleweed

Your welcome any time.
The current USA stuff is fine, and the 4X65 setup would be just fine for you. I have the 4 blue LED in my light system and it is really nice to watch at night. Well worth the litlle extra money IMOP

ray

ok so i'm getting the 4x65 w/ led lighting system in a few days... when it comes i wont be able to use the aquarium hood i have now... i was thinking about going down to the glass place and having them cut me some sections that will fit on there... but i'm worried that there may be some heat issues with that maybe? like in a car when the windows are up... is this going to be an issue?
if it is an issue, i was going to see if they would drill a few holes here and there in the glass for ventilation...
think this would work? i don't really want an open tank...

Tumbleweed

PC lighting systems dont usually produce too much heat so that shouldn't be a problem. If it is i recomend going to home depot and geting some plastic egg crate panels and cut those to fit. "It is used to defuse and cover overhead flourecent lighting in office buildings." this will cover the tank but alow heat to escape.

ray

plastic egg crate panels? where would those be in HD? it the glass idea not such a hot one?
egg crates just sound like i'm gonna have alot of easter eggs lying around somewhere...
do you have this on your tank?
any pics?
thanks for all the help...

sirdarksol

In the ceiling area. They're little grids of white plastic, with holes about 1/2" across. They're called egg crate panels because they look like miniature trays for egg shipping crates.

Tumbleweed

I don't have any pictures, becuse I don't need it yet. I will be using it when I get my no MH lights system in. Sirdarksol is correct. You will find them down the lighting aisle in Home Depot. If it is not there just ask a Lighting guy there and he will know what it is.
The problem with a glass top is it traps in heat. If heat is not an issue for you then the glass tops will be just fine.

ray

ok awesome!
i think i know the egg crate stuff you are talking about now...

Tumbleweed

That is what I have been informed of as the best option. Just make sure you get it in white.