Samgoody Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 HI guys: I am going to set up a 23 gal salt water tank(24" long tank) but not sure how much wattage of light is enough to have corals in the tank. i found a light fixture on ebay 24" long with 4x 24w t6 tubes.(2x 10000k & 2 actinic) Each pair of light bulbs have its power cord. That means I can either have one pair of them turn on to get 48w or turn them all on to get 96watts. With 96 wattage of light, that is like about 4 to 5 watts per gallon. Would that be OK or its too bright? Please someone give an advise on this. thx! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegrandpoohbah Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 96W of flourescent light will only be enough for softies and mushrooms. If you want LPS, SPS or clams then be prepared to shell out a whole lot more moolah for better lights. On a 24" tank your best bet would be a 150W metal halide fixture with power compact actinic supplementation or a 4 x 24W T5HO fixture with individual parabolic reflectors over each bulb. The T5HO has the same wattage as the T6 fixture you're looking at but the reflectors are what makes the difference. Flat, one piece reflectors or even contoured reflectors do not reflect the light as efficiently as parabolic reflectors do. What it comes down to is what do you want to keep in terms of corals and how much money are you willing to spend? I've been looking at lighting options for a 24G Nanocube and anything decent is going to run over $300. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trualm Posted July 25, 2009 Report Share Posted July 25, 2009 4 to 5 watts is good for most just make sure you know the coral you are going to buy I had lps softs and clams under 4 watts for 8 months and all did very well croaca clams can be given food to make up for less light got mine at about 4 inches and now it at 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuz Posted July 25, 2009 Report Share Posted July 25, 2009 best advise i recieved starting out was:: don't cheap out early or you'll end up re-buying for better equiptment later!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanGSP Posted July 25, 2009 Report Share Posted July 25, 2009 96W of flourescent light will only be enough for softies and mushrooms. If you want LPS, SPS or clams then be prepared to shell out a whole lot more moolah for better lights. Says you. I run a New Wave T5HO 24" 4 bulb fixture over my 24" deep tank and I keep SPS, LPS, and there is even a crocea Clam on the bottom. SPS are kept near the top but my open brain, blasto, Hammer and gonipora are at the bottom. For a 24 gallon (I assume its 16" high) I would use 4 T5 High Output Bulbs and you could keep whatever you wanted. More bulbs will give you more colour choices in the bulbs. I run 1 11K, 1 Blue+ and 2 Fiji Purple but its up to you what kind of overall colour you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegrandpoohbah Posted July 25, 2009 Report Share Posted July 25, 2009 [quote name='thegrandpoohbah' date='Aug 27 2008, 11:29 PM' post='2161579'96W of flourescent light will only be enough for softies and mushrooms. If you want LPS, SPS or clams then be prepared to shell out a whole lot more moolah for better lights. Says you. I run a New Wave T5HO 24" 4 bulb fixture over my 24" deep tank and I keep SPS, LPS, and there is even a crocea Clam on the bottom. SPS are kept near the top but my open brain, blasto, Hammer and gonipora are at the bottom. For a 24 gallon (I assume its 16" high) I would use 4 T5 High Output Bulbs and you could keep whatever you wanted. More bulbs will give you more colour choices in the bulbs. I run 1 11K, 1 Blue+ and 2 Fiji Purple but its up to you what kind of overall colour you like. Umm... did you even read my entire post? I suggested either 150W MH or 4 x 24W T5HO for SPS, LPS and clams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory K Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 LOL ive got a good question, what is the best of the cheapest lights you can get? i just moved my 1.5 gal to a 20 (i had to convince the fiance to let me get it) and just have in the 2X25 watt incandescent. i know this is not enough but i only have 3 little b.l. hermits a few smaller snail and the hitch hikers from my live rock. one rock is great condition and i just bought only because it was a good fuji /cheap for size/ and has a great purple colour to it and some small algea growths (java moss looking) it came with a bristle but im not to concerned and from the rubble i have a very small anome?( it has tenticales and crawls the size of my tank looking attached like a snail(mushroom shaped)) a very small bristle Star fish (very white) and some colourfull small growth that i have found called from feather dusters to mushrooms but cant identify due to there size and my experience. the 1.5 was for breeding my fresh water nerites and im new so any GOOD advice to wards a budget tank would be great. so far every thing i have read on the net states 'buy 500 dollars lights and 300 dollars skimmers or doom doom doom' and in my fresh waters tanks everything is diy and gos ok but i know this is higher tech than shrimp and rasboras but im not trying for a deluxe super reef just a fun side project to learn about salt and watch stuff grow. also do i need to add my 'kent marine calcium' to the tank for good live rock growth ? Thanks again for taking the time to read this ~ Cory :smokey: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.