Tax Return= new lights

[mustanglx77]

yep, another post on lights I am afraid that I will be the poster asking all kinds of questions too. I have a all-glass 55 gallon tank, we bought the tank as a kit, so we still have the cheap 2x40w lights that came with it. Since we have done our taxes, and Mr Bush has let us get some of our money back this year, the wife and I want to get a new lighting system for our tank, so we can put some corral in there.

The tank measures 48 1/4 x 12 3/8 and is around 14" deep, I know we want to keep it simple and not looking to go too big with the corrals, but we do want some cool stuff, I was kicking around the idea of makeing my own hood, but I think I want to just buy a good premade hood of some kind.

can you all help me get some ideas, before I go to our local fish shop and get beat up and pay way too much

[SpongeBob]

As stated in your introduction, you might want to start by reading ALL the threads that pertain to lighting that were recently started and maybe ask specific questions after if need be. Does that sound ok to you?

Happy reading and don't hesitate to ask details!

Sponge

[Reefneck]

Alot depends on what type of Corals and other animals you plan to keep. Clams, Anemones and many Corals Require Metal Halide lighting. Others do well with T5HO. Some do good with PC's but not alot.

So without more info, I really can't help you with your decision.

[SpongeBob]

Originally Posted by LakeMalawiXpert

Alot depends on what type of Corals and other animals you plan to keep. Clams, Anemones and many Corals Require Metal Halide lighting. Others do well with T5HO. Some do good with PC's but not alot.

So without more info, I really can't help you with your decision.

May I ask you how you can say that Metal Halide is "required" by some corals/clams/anemone? Also, you seem to divide species according to type of bulb used, not intensity. That is somewhat new to me and I have never heard of such a thing.

Do you have any links you could supply that explains that theory? I always thought that 420nm light is 420nm light, wether it comes from MH, VHO or PC. I think you are confusing light dispersion/intensity vs height of tank vs type of bulb used.

Maybe I'm wrong?

Sponge

[mustanglx77]

Originally Posted by SpongeBob

As stated in your introduction, you might want to start by reading ALL the threads that pertain to lighting that were recently started and maybe ask specific questions after if need be. Does that sound ok to you?

Happy reading and don't hesitate to ask details!

Sponge

I have, and do read alot of the past and current threads on this and other websites. Most all seem to end in a debate between MH and pc lamps. I am asking for peoples opinions on what they might think will work for my tank, to go along with simple, easy/moderate to maintaine corral. I feel over whemed with all the information and types out there.

[Reefneck]

Originally Posted by mustanglx77

I have, and do read alot of the past and current threads on this and other websites. Most all seem to end in a debate between MH and pc lamps. I am asking for peoples opinions on what they might think will work for my tank, to go along with simple, easy/moderate to maintaine corral. I feel over whemed with all the information and types out there.

As I said before....It depends on what type of corals you wish to keep. Nobody is going to tell you to get light set "A" and you can keep corals. That is too broad an area to cover.

When you get specific about what you want to keep then someone can more accurately answer your question.

As for me....I don't appreciate being pinned to the wall in every thread about everything I say so I won't be helping anyone on this forum site again for a long time if I decide to at all!

I wish you luck in getting a good answer here. You might try other forums more geared toward helping people instead of attacking.

[SpongeBob]

Originally Posted by LakeMalawiXpert

As I said before....It depends on what type of corals you wish to keep. Nobody is going to tell you to get light set "A" and you can keep corals. That is too broad an area to cover.

When you get specific about what you want to keep then someone can more accurately answer your question.

As for me....I don't appreciate being pinned to the wall in every thread about everything I say so I won't be helping anyone on this forum site again for a long time if I decide to at all!

I wish you luck in getting a good answer here. You might try other forums more geared toward helping people instead of attacking.

Hola brother.... Back up the "victim of abuse" truck in the parking lot please. One thing is sure and please believe me on this one : I do not have ANYTHING personal against you and neither do I wish to. If you haven't noticed, this is a public forum and everyone is invited to participate. Now, when you chose to participate and make some statements meant as help, you must assume the risk of being questionned about your sources if that information you have given kind of "stands out". That is in no WAY nailing you to the wall, nor is it a way to initiate some sort of fight or battle of words.

I'm sorry if I have hurt your feelings or injured you in anyway. BUT I must question you about your statements. The information you have given is not, according to my small knowledge, logical, nor factual. Now, being a gentleman, I have asked you to back up your statements with links so I can further educate myself. If you are unable to produce such backup information and sources, I guess you just replied on "how you feel" or "know" about the question at hand. There is NOTHING wrong with that. What I do think is wrong is to take it personally and say that you will not help anyone here anymore because I asked you to justify your statements. Furthermore, it is also wrong and detrimental to this forum and web site to "tag" it as being a place of dispute and quarrel which is totally unacceptable IMHO and most of all, NOT FAIR to the admins/moderators of this site/forum.

I kindly invite you to be a bit more open minded and try not to take things so personally. We are here to exchange on a wonderful hoby and to help one another.

If you have personnal issues with me that you wish to discuss, please do so by sending me a private message. I will be more than happy to ease your worries and confirm that I have nothing against anyone here and I'm not here to play the Mr. Know it All.

Please accept my kindest regards,

Sponge

[SpongeBob]

Originally Posted by mustanglx77

I have, and do read alot of the past and current threads on this and other websites. Most all seem to end in a debate between MH and pc lamps. I am asking for peoples opinions on what they might think will work for my tank, to go along with simple, easy/moderate to maintaine corral. I feel over whemed with all the information and types out there.

Sorry about the "other thing" going on.

As I said, I kindly invite you to read the few new posts that have been brought up where your question has been discussed. I mean no disrespect and nor am I being lazy, but I will not retype everything I wrote on the subject yesterday and today. It will be much faster for both of us to read the information already available.

As I said, if you have a specific question, by all means, please ask it and either me or another member will gladly answer you.

Happy reading!

Sponge

[Fishfirst]

I think what LMX is saying is usually if you want to keep those species you are going to need to invest in very intense lighting in general... we, as hobbiests, often times just put it to a category of ligthing, such as metal halide, as of caurse, metal halide is the most intense lighting you can buy right now for marine aquariums. Many anemones, and clams will bleach without this high intensity lighting... which is why he says you "need" it for those individual species, if you want 400 watts of VHO or PC on each side of the tank to keep those specific species alive and healthy, then by all means, do it... however, I think it probably is more economical if he'd just get the MH.

Mustang, we can pick out a lighting retro-fit for you if you give us some "must have" corals that you want for your tank... otherwise we have no idea of what you really need. I'd check out corals at www.liveaquaria.com.

[TheOldSalt]

The light dispersal patterns of each of these lighting systems is different, and sometimes that can make a big difference.
MH is a very bright "point light source" which mimics the sun somewhat. If you look at a tank employing MH lighting, and then look at another beside it using VHO, you will quickly notice one glaring difference- ripples.

VHO light is uniformly distributed, and with it you don't get those refractive dapples of light in the water that you would get with the sun or MH lighting.
A closer look reveals that there are numerous little splotches of super-intense light scattered all over the tank as a result of the ripples in the surface of the water. These super-intense spots dance around the tank, supercharging the zooxanthellae in the corals, anemones, and clams for very brief periods without overexposing them.
This is the way things are on the natural reef, and some species have evolved to greatly appreciate, if not actually require it.
It is a long-established observation that some things do much better under MH than under other lights. Some corals, like Goniopora, are notorious for their abyssmal survival rate in most aquaria, but if given real sunlight they do just fine. It seems that Gonios need point lighting, as well as, get this, some infrared. Being such a shallow-water coral, this isn't too surprising.
Anyway, while it isn't an exact science or anything, the anecdotal evidence has piled up quite nicely over the past 20 years, and it plainly suggests that some species don't fit the norm, and do better or worse under certain lighting types.

Personally, I like VHO for most applications. I never did like Gonios anyway.

[Purple-Tang]

which lighting is best for xenia? I am currently using vho, but I dont think thats bright enough for them though.

[Damon]

Wow who woke up this thread?
Xenia can thrive in pc lighting.
Its really easy to satisfy.

[CollegeReefer]

I was like taxes already, someone is getting ahead of themselves!

[Fishfirst]

Welcome to Fishforums!