Saltwater Lights For A Freshwater Aquarium?

[Raechal]

I bought a 125 gallon tank last weekend and it was a saltwater tank when he was using it. He gave me some really good lights that he used for his saltwater aquarium. I am not sure what they are exactly but it is a silver and black type hood and it has 4 tube lights in it. Two are turned on by one switch and the other two are turned on by the other switch. Two seem to be white lights while the other two are more of a blue/purple.

Could these lights be used for a freshwater tank at all?

 

[fifefish]

I dont see why not, it really depends on the sort of fish you are planning to put in the tank, you could provide floating plants to dampen the light if needed.

 

[Raechal]

I dont see why not, it really depends on the sort of fish you are planning to put in the tank, you could provide floating plants to dampen the light if needed.

I know that I am going to be stocking it with an Oscar, besides that probably just another similar sized peaceful cichlid. So the lights would be fine? I think they are like corallife lights or something?

 

[fifefish]

I use an ex- marine tank for my freshwater tank, and it used to hold liverock and different corals, and ive had no problems,
maybe you could use just 2 lights instead of 4?

 

[Colin_T]

Fluorescent globes should have a bit of writing on the ends of the glass bit. It tells you what temperature/ Kelvin (K) rating they are. Chances are the white globes are daylights or something around the 10,000K mark. Whereas the blue lights are actinics and have a temp around 20,000K.
You can use the whites for freshwater tanks and some people use the blues as night lights. If you want to use the blues as night lights then turn them on about 30minutes before you turn the white lights off.

 

[Raechal]

Fluorescent globes should have a bit of writing on the ends of the glass bit. It tells you what temperature/ Kelvin (K) rating they are. Chances are the white globes are daylights or something around the 10,000K mark. Whereas the blue lights are actinics and have a temp around 20,000K.
You can use the whites for freshwater tanks and some people use the blues as night lights. If you want to use the blues as night lights then turn them on about 30minutes before you turn the white lights off.

thanks! <3