What kind of light?

[+Melissa]

I need to know what a good, (affordable) light would be for either a 40 gallon tall, or a standard 20 gallon. I want to be able to grow SPS, and gsp, and maybe some frogspawn among others. How much lighting do each of theses tanks need? I have about had it with my frag tank, and want to put them in a bigger tank before I give up completely, but I'm afraid if I move before I get the lights, I will kill everything. I have a 15 watt 50/50 bulb in the 20 right now. I'm waiting to pick up the 40 gallon, so I am not sure exactly what system it has, but pretty sure it's for freshwater.

I have two bulbs for my little tank. One is whats in the link, and the other is the same without the actinics and is 15 watts.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753932

Is there anyway to incorporate those two bulbs in somehow (at least to the 20 gallon). I have another Coralife 50/50 on the 20 that is 15 or 20 watt bulb.

Ok so theres my mess in a not so neat form of a question.

Learn me please!!!

[pbnj]

Those 50/50 bulbs are good for maybe lighting a refugium or growing some soft corals, but certainly not for growing SPS.

You'll need either metal halides or T5s. Whatever light fixture you go with, the quality of the reflector(s) is the most important thing. For T5 fixtures, you'll want individual reflectors for each bulb.

Edited April 6, 2010 by pbnj

[joshman1204]

For any of those tanks I would go with a 150w metal halide clip on or pendant.

[Rjohn]

I would stick with t-5 fixtures and avoid the metal halide heat issue on tanks that small.

[Chrispar]

I run a 150w MH on my 29 tall and i have no issues with over heating.

[+Lamont]

+1 for Rjohn:)

[offroadodge]

ive got enough stuff for a DIY reflector and bulb with ballast. 250w MH SE 12k LMK

[+Melissa]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the great help. Is there something that I can go by that kinda tells me what each type of coral likes as far as flow, lighting etc? I wouldn't know where to start looking. I had sps mixed up with gsp. ARGG all these new terms make my brain hurt lol. Can I have too much light? If so, how do I balance out corals that need a lot of light, and ones that like it shady?

[+dapettit]

This is book; shows placement, light requirements, feeding, etc. I have this in my library.

Corals: A Quick Reference Guide (Oceanographic Series) by Julian Sprung

ISBN-10: 1883693098

ISBN-13: 978-1883693091

[wayneb]

+1 for Sprung's book

wayneb

[Crab Rangoon]

I would only consider T5 or LED sources for lighting on that size tank. There is no reason to up your electricity usage & heat output via the halide on that size of tank with all the other options that exist. I don't bash halides, and there will be other members able to post about their experience with a MH on a smaller tank - but the experience varies greatly from person to person based upon the product, the height at which it's mounted, the idle temperature of their home, and the other equipment they are using.

For an LED option, consider the 21w PAR38 socket lamps w/LEDs & optics fitted to them that are being offered as of late. You'd easily get by with running 2-3 of those. T5 wise, a set of 4 would be much better for focus on SPS, but if you're simply doing a mixed reef and trying your hand at incorporating some SPS (as opposed to SPS dominant tanks, or focusing on Acro varieties specifically) I'd say you should start with Montipora & Pocillopora varieties first, which will do well in both 2 or 4 bulb lighting conditions.

Hope that helps.

[Robb in Austin]

All good advice.

I'm partial to T5s myself, but metal halides(MH) does have a nice effect.

That said, any good light(eg one that will support SPS) will be expensive, unless you go used or DIY as suggested by offroadodge. Just FYI. Buy it right the first time and only buy it once.

Good luck!

[+Melissa]

I'm going to get that book!! I found it on amazon, and will see if I can find it at the store here. My husband and I are leaning towards getting rid of all the corals we have in there which isn't much, and start over once we get the light up and running that way we start off right. I'm glad I know now that some of the things I got required different lighting that what I have, so thats why they are dying/dead. Makes sense now. Now I just need to go read what the difference in all these lights are. I hear the names of them, but they just don't click. I look like an idiot standing in the lights looking at them going "oooh that one's pretty.. " lol

I really appreciate the genuine advice given here. So different than asking for help on my FW forum.

[Robb in Austin]

Glad we can help, that's why we're all here.

[diabeetus]

my 150w MH on my 29 stays at 76 degrees all day, no chiller, just a small fan running over the top of the water. you will be able to grow pretty much anything with them and you will also get an awesome "shimmer" at the bottom of the tank which helps with making it a more realistic environment for the livestock