Lighting Help

[Warsteiner]

I have a 4ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft Marine Tank, intend to put LRs, Fish & some corals... What is a suitable lighting that I should have??? I have a 2ft T5 PL 55w from my previous 2ft tank... THANKS

[xiggie]

u need at least 300 watts of lights ....

[Warsteiner]

I intend to put 4 X PL 55w or 1 X MH 150w. enough?

[KingFish]

I'll try to facilitate this discussion.

Warsteiner (burrp.... ),

1) What kind of corals and fishes do you intend to keep?

- That alone is a major determinant of how intense the light / wide a spectrum you need to keep them alive.

- Fishes do play a small part, some do not like strong lights.

2) Do you intend to use a chiller?

Lastly, have you read Bawater's Guide?

[xiggie]

I intend to put 4 X PL 55w or 1 X MH 150w. enough?

a 4 feet need at least 2x 150w MH .......

[KingFish]

a 4 feet need at least 2x 150w MH .......

Care to explain your rationale?

[FuEl]

My tank is that size. I'm only using 3X54W T5s..thinking of adding one more blue tube soon to balance out the whiteness. With that amount of light you can keep most things. Also depends on the way you arrange your corals from the light source.

Using T5s tend to make the light more spread out. If you use MH of 150W, it tends to have a 'spotlight' effect, with some areas receiving less light than others. However, this also causes the ripple effect.

It all depends on your preference. I prefer T5s as I am not using a chiller and I like light intensity to be more evenly spread out.

[xiggie]

Care to explain your rationale?

watts per gallon ..... 5-10 watts per gallon of water

4x1.5x1.5 = 67 gallons of water ... plus minus rocks = 60 gal

roughly 5 watt x60gal = 300watts

1x bulb of any watts MH (depending on height) may not light up whole tank may have dark spots at corners .... maybe yes maybe no

but best solution is 2 x 150w which will definitely light up from corner to corner ...

this is what i think ..... im no expert but this lights setup would definately suffice for most kind of corals ...

[Terryz_]

I tot the watts per gallon thoery is not very accurate or pratical...

[FuEl]

I tot the watts per gallon thoery is not very accurate or pratical...

Yea..you are correct! 220 watts of PL might not even produce enought light intensity compared to 162 watts of T5s.

So Warsteiner...decided on your lighting already?

[Terryz_]

Maybe you can consider my lighting... 2 x 250w MH and 2 actinic T5 to balance out the yellow color of the MH...