Lighting...
- Thread starter PRW1988
- Start date
-Nemo-
Build-A-Reef
It depends on what kind of tank you want to keep. One with corals? Or FO (fish only)? Or a FOWLR tank? (fish only with live rock). What do you plan to keep?
Yeah, to elaborate, if keeping a fish-only tank, any old lights will do. The reason keeping corals and other photosynthetic marine inverts requires special lighting is because on a reef they recieve different light. In the wild as you go deeper under the surface of the ocean, light starts being "scrubbed out" by the density and refraction of water. I forget the exact depths but at somewhere over 10 feet of depth, red wavelengths are scrubbed out, and by the time you get to say 30 feet, most yellow, orange, and even green is scrubbed out. Suffice it to say that most corals that we keep occur in the 20-100ft of depth range and see mostly blue and purple wavelengths of light. They are therefore in the wild generally more adapted to those wavelengths. I'm making generalizations here as there are always exceptions to the rule, but thats a generalized view of the type of light most corals "see" on the reef.
Then examining freshwater lighting, you'll find that it is very red and green heavy as far as light output goes as these are the more common phosphors available in industry. Long story short, its cheaper and easier to make a red-green spectrum (or even full spectrum) than it is to make a green-purple spectrum. Can corals adapt to freshwater lighting? Some can sure, but their colors will fade and the tank may be ridden with nuisance algaes that thrive on the more red output.
Bottom line, photosynthetic marine tanks do better with blue wavelength light which is difficult to create and not widely used in the lighting industry as a whole.
Then examining freshwater lighting, you'll find that it is very red and green heavy as far as light output goes as these are the more common phosphors available in industry. Long story short, its cheaper and easier to make a red-green spectrum (or even full spectrum) than it is to make a green-purple spectrum. Can corals adapt to freshwater lighting? Some can sure, but their colors will fade and the tank may be ridden with nuisance algaes that thrive on the more red output.
Bottom line, photosynthetic marine tanks do better with blue wavelength light which is difficult to create and not widely used in the lighting industry as a whole.
What type of flourescents? T5? T8? T12? PC? And of course how many of each?
Read the label on the bulb. For example, F48T5 means a nominally 48" long T5 tube. The bulb code tells you what it is. If there's no label, measure the diameter. T12 are 12/8th of an inch, T8 are 8/8ths of an inch, and T5 are... you guessed it, 5/8ths of an inch.
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