Need lights

[Mr CRABS]

Hi ppl...im looking for lights which are suitable for reefkeeping or might as well say keeping marine stuff.Well it is an electronic item so im paying for it...

I dont want too expensive lights....Im not also sure what are the cheapest lights....

but around 20-30 dollars i would be happy...but just need more comments on prices and where can i buy them.You can also sell your lights...

2FT TANK............expecting more help....

thanks

[iantoh]

Hi Mr Crabs,

this is a topic thats really extensive, so i really do recommend you do some research and read up on it before deciding, because more often than not, if you buy the cheapest lights around, youll end up spending more on upgrades, and most of us on src say this out of experience and lighter wallets. i'll try to steer clear of the more complex issues like UV requirements and angles of irradiance, but it'll still be fairly lengthy. so hope it helps ya.

If youre NOT intent on keeping any photosynthetic corals, then any lights sufficient for your viewing pleasure will do, and you can easily get cheap clip-on lighting fixtures from Ikea that'll suffice. cheap, easy to use, and aesthetically pleasing.

If youre planning on keeping photosynthetic corals however, then thats an entirely different story. put simply, if $20-$30 lights would do the job, we wouldnt spend hundreds on the lightings that we own.

its a good thing that your tank's only one foot in height, as youll need less penetrative strengthed lightings (less lumens) to provide adequate light levels throughout the tank, but you still need at least PL or good flourescents bulbs to adequately meet the lighting needs of the easiest soft corals, like the sarcophyton leather corals and mushrooms like yumas and discosomas, and good PL or flourescent light fixtures with bulbs will cost more than $30. an arcadia flourescent bulb will cost $30 alone. and youd probably need two flourescent bulbs in the least to provide sufficient light energy for the easier corals.

there is no fast rule for lightings, but here are some guidelines. wattage,

to a degree represents how much electricity a bulb is consuming, which

it then converts into light energy, though different bulbs have different capabilities of converting light, and different modes of emanating this light. so a 30w flourescent tube may be of higher wattage than a 24w HO-T5 tube, but the 24w HO-T5 tube will be brighter, and of greater lumens rating, meaning it emits light that has a greater intensity and further penetrative range.

youd also need to take note of bulbs colour temperature. the colour temperature of a bulb may only reveal its peak frequencies, but it is still of some importance. sunlight is typically about 6000k full spectrum. in comparison, there are bulbs in 6500k, 7500k, 10000k, 11000k, 14000k, 20000k, 40000k, and lots of areas in between.

as a general guide, if youre getting a stand alone bulb for general reef tank, bulbs with colour temps from 6500k to 11000k will best cover most of the corals needs. for reef flats and deeper water corals, 14000 to 20000k. but then again, there are caveats to this. lighting requirements vary for reef biotopes, and between coral species, so before deciding on the lights to get, please consider the needs of the corals you intend to keep. and where possible, vary your lights. alot of reefers utilise 10000k bulbs with actinics or blue light supplementation, for example, with 2x10000k HO-T5 bulbs, and 1 or 2x blue PL bulbs.

well, i think i'll leave you with that for now. you can always query more and other bros will give you some good tips.

as for places to get cheap light fixtures, i recommend Nature aquarium along balestier road. you can get 3x24w HO-T5 tubes (2feet length) that will be good enough to keep most corals for about $80 minus the bulbs. The e-ballasts wont be branded or anything, but they'll suffice to do the job, and most commercial retrofits hide the e-ballasts in metal casings anyway, so... or perhaps try getting something second hand. there are fixtures for 2feet tanks that are decent for easier corals too.

here are some links to good lighting articles ive read.

http://www.kentmarine.com/university/reeflighting.html

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/setup/lighting/index.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marlgtganthony.htm

well, hope that helps.

ian

[ervine]

Hi ppl...im looking for lights which are suitable for reefkeeping or might as well say keeping marine stuff.Well it is an electronic item so im paying for it...

I dont want too expensive lights....Im not also sure what are the cheapest lights....

but around 20-30 dollars i would be happy...but just need more comments on prices and where can i buy them.You can also sell your lights...

2FT TANK............expecting more help....

thanks

20-30 is VERY cheap for lights used in marine tanks actually...

What do you intend to keep? Corals then I don't see your 30 bucks getting u much... if it's FOWLR then anything goes.. u can even use your torchlight...

[Mr CRABS]

I dont intend to keep corals that need alot of light energy...i dun like zoo's or specialrocks like yuma or thingis like that...i dun even know about them...hehehehei just want to keep anemones if possible....

[Mr CRABS]

inantoh thanks for your information...they did help....thanks bro you must be a pro..how much does your lighting cost???

[DragonGoby]

I dont intend to keep corals that need alot of light energy...i dun like zoo's or specialrocks like yuma or thingis like that...i dun even know about them...hehehehei just want to keep anemones if possible....

Just a heads up, anemones need a lot more light than zoos and yumas. Definitely nothing short of a set of good T5s or MH for them, so with a limited budget it'll be wiser to stick to a FOWLR for now, as ervine mentioned.

[alexgo310038]

bro CRABS i think that you are going too fast liao Do slow down N do some research

[hammy]

inantoh thanks for your information...they did help....thanks bro you must be a pro..how much does your lighting cost???

do some read up .

from ur recent post , u seem wanna keep anemones which i think FL nor even PL can do the job.

a minimum of HO T5 will satisfied anemones.

anemones are light demanding invert , more difficult than mushies ie yumas

even for pl, i use 2 x 55 watt for my 2 feet last time which cost around 150 dollars and i dun think it's enough for anemones.

current switch to t5 HO and cost around 200.

for 20-30 dollars lighting, i would advice u keep just FOWLR or simple mushies. forget about the anemones unless u are willing to spend more money.

[southpaw23]

I second the suggestion for you to slow down a lil on your reefing endeavour...from what i can gather from you past few post in this forum..it's quite clear taht u haven't done enough research on this hobby...and i don't say this to put you down but to caution you. It's a common newbie mistake to think that a tank can be simply setup with cheap equipment and more sadly enough, dump an anemone in the tank as well..

Anemones are very delicate creatures that sometimes require more care than most corals....and the big mistakes made are putting them in low light conditions. The problem is, you won't see any immediate negative effects on the animal but it's more a long drawn process of slowly killing off the poor animal. It can take close to 3-6 months to kill it and it's pretty sad. They will gradually lose all their color, to put it simply, and eventually shrivel up and die on ya when they lose the ability to produce food etc...

Anyways...that's something you can read up in many articles available here and on the web....but i believe the bottom line here is patience and research.

Take the cues of the other younger reefers on this forum....they have done plenty of research, and in some cases probably more research than me or other older reefers. So i don't believe age is the issue here. But you need to humble yourself and fully understand the process of reefing before jumping into this blindly. Now i'm not saying that you have....and i'm sure that you have done some form of research but from your past post, the questions you ask are already clearly posted in some of the newbie threads and a quick search should give you the answers you require...

Wishing you the best....but hoping you will take the right steps...

cheers..

ps. Sorry...haven't answered your initial question on lights...if you want, there are shops that sell a 2ft 36watt PL fixture for around 35 bucks and i believe you can also find a dymax 2ft T5 light set with 2 NO T5 bulbs for around 40-50 bucks and that should suffice for basic low light corals....but NOT Anemones!

[ervine]

i agree with everything the reefers above mentioned...

Anenomes are NOT for beginners, I've been reefing for like 5 years and I still don't dare to try anenomes even with MH and T5s...

It's not just lighting, you have to get your water parameters right as well, all of which will need not only experience but also equipment...

From some of your other posts it seems that you are on a super tight budget... but please if you cannot afford it then don't try reefing, it really burns a hole in your pocket...