# lighting question



## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

Hi guys,

So i'm in the process of moving (1 month away) and decided that it was easier to get a new tank and move everything over since I have about a week with both places that I can use to let everything settle before i put the fish in. My friends also dont want to move my existing tank so I had to come up with some sort of a solution.

Now here's the problem. 

I'm moving my saltwater setup from a 60g non-bow front corner aquarium, old style, to a 47g fluval 190 corner aquarium with an 18 gallon sump. The fluval 190 comes with 2 x 24 watt t5ho bulbs. In my current tank I am using a power compact ballast with 2 x 65 watt bulbs. 

I should have measured the top of the new one properly first cause the ballast is a bit to big to fit in with the t5ho ballast. 

I would ideally like to use both the t5ho as well as the power compacts for a total wattage of 178 watts so that i can move into the reef world.

My question is about the wattage between the t5h0 and the power compacts. The write-up on the fluva says that the lighting can be used for reef but i dont believe that 48 watts for 47 gallons of water will do it alone. Any thoughts on why they would say this?

How does 48 watts of t5ho compare to 72 watt of 16 inch power compact?


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

There are several factors to consider, how deep is the tank? What corals do you plan to keep? I personally would just get a second fluval glo t5 unit and with 4 bulbs you should have sufficient light.


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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

The tank is 38.5L x 27.5 W x 22.8H. Trying not to spend anymore until I can sell my 2 tanks to get back the money i spent on this one. I would like to have any of the following:

Mushrooms
anenome
brain coral
hammer coral
Star Polyps
leathers
toadstool

A second one would give me 144 watts which would be great. But the 2 power compacts are smaller than 4 t5s due to footprint and available space and I would get 178 watts. Gotta love triangle tanks :S

What watt per gallon should I be aiming for? My original plan was to use the t5s for actinic and he power compact for 1 10000k and 1 20000k but the triangle footprint is killing my plan.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

i personally will get rid of corner tanks and get normal ones. It will fix all your problems and will make maintenance much easier

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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

Yeah but they are so pretty  maintenance on my current one is a piece of cake. So was the lighting. But its my fault that i did measure the top before i bought it.


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## robert77k (May 27, 2012)

The Hagen 2 x 24 Watts T5HO produces about 4000 Lumens at the source. 

The lights on that aquarium are also very close to the water, I think it's about 1 inch from the water surface so that also boosts your effective lighting power quite a bit compaired to one that is about 5 to 6 inches from the water. The reflectors are also supposed to be the best money can buy which would also maximize your light transfer. 


You have to take all that into account whentrying to find out the ultimate answer, how much light is hitting your aquarium where it counts. Supposedly Hagen has done this all for you when they designed that aquarium.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

I had Hagen Glo on my 80G bowfront and they are OK for all corals that you mentioned.
I even was able to have SPS, but without big grow. I think it is not about fixture, but about bulbs. Get ATI or another good bulbs and you will be OK for everything.
but just to mention that with your 38.5L tank and 24" bulbs you should hang these fixtures ~ 6" above water or to put most of the corals under lights. Anemone could be OK on the side

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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

K so I figured out how to fit both fixtures. So i will have 2 x 24watt t5ho and 2 x 65 watt cf for 178 watts. Think this is to much light for the corals listed above? I was doing some reading last night and read an article that stated that actinic lights are the best for photosynthisis inverts and coral so was thinking of running 2 x 65 watt cf actinic, 1 24 watt actinic and 1 24 watt 10000k. Not really sure about the 10000k thing for the corals mentioned above or how beneficial they will be. I am probably totally wrong though. What do you think?


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Your growth will be crap. You need 10k for growth and actinic for color. Make it half and half for best results.


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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

Sorry growth of coral? I was reading that they dont even use anything above 600nm? Not to sure though. Just learning as I go.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Corals actually grow best under 6700k but look brown.


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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

Ah ok. Thanks for the advise  I have read a few thread about corals melting under high intensity light so am not sure how much light is to much. Was originally planning 2 10000k and 2 actinic but came across a few actinic only tanks that seemed to work and was wondering what the use of the 10000k light would be.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

That's not a lot of light. My 34 gallon solana comes with a 150w metal halide.


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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

Wow. Is it to little?


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

I think it would be sufficient.


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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

Thanks again for the advice guys. i've designed the lighting as such:

---Back of tank---

65watt 10000k cf
24watt 14000k t5
24watt actinic t5
65watt 10000k cf

---Front of tank---

The 24watt t5s will be on for 8 hours
The 64watt cfs will be on for 4 hours a day (1 hour after t5s come on mainly when no one's home)

i'd like to get a 6 inch cf to run an actinic bulb in for 2 hours at the end but we'll see what happens.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

on my old tank I use to have a day light cycle and it worked very well for me. I started with actinic for an hour then 10k t5s would kick for three hours, then the halides turn on for 5 hours then 10k & actinic for an hour then actinic for the last hour. I would run both t5 actinic though as the t5 is no nearly as powerful as the 65w power compacts and I think the tank will look yellow. Actually even better would be to have one of the PC bulbs a 50/50 bulb and keep the t5s the way you planned. I've gone through dozens of bulbs trying to find a mix that looks good but also makes corals grow like nuts. One thing I can say now is nothing makes corals pop like the 20k radium 150w hqi I'm running now. Its so bright but so blue at the same time. Better yet sell both lights and get a 250w hqi pendant for that bad boy


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

They also make some real nice PC bulbs these days. Different color mixes like actinic/12k or 10k/14k. PC bulbs grow corals pretty good, That's all people used for years. 
This tank ran 2 65 watt 10k power compacts and two 24 inch 24watt actinic standard flourescent tubes.


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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

Nice what size is that tank Mike? The PC bulbs will be run when no one is around so I am not really concerned about how the tank looks when they are on, just how the coral grow. The viewing lights will be 1 24 watt t5 14k and 1 24 watt actinic which look pretty nice to me. I am / was (switching tanks) running only 1 PC 64 watt 10k and 1 64 watt actininc and the tank looks extremely bright. The dimmer lights should make it look a bit softer but wont know until i'm finish the build. Thanks again for all of the info


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

34 gallon long aquarium


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## 1200assassin (Jan 14, 2011)

Looks really nice  Hope I can get my tank that lively someday


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