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A light question

K

kewast

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I'm startimg the setup of a used 65 gallon aqaurium that came with a 192W CF. I am a beginner in the worst way, but I know that I need more light for a reef aquarium. I cannot afford a MH right now but am considering an additional 100 to 150W CF. Will this be sufficent lighting for a reef aqaurium with live rock, hard and soft coral, and fish? Also, has anyone out there used the Florex 65W bulbs that claim to put out as much as a 500W CF and 4500 lumens?

Help, please!
 
You're at almost 3 watts per gallon so if you poisition the hard corals up high, softies in the middle, and shrooms at the bottom, you should not have any problems. Just remeber most acropora will lose their color unless they are under MH so if you want hard corals stick to the eaiser types. Also stay away from any of the clams. They need a LOT more light.

BTW, what is the rating on the bulbs? You can have 1,000 watts running over the tanks and it will do nothing if it is the wrong spectrum.

I prefer a more deepwater look so I tend to use higher kelvin bulbs (they also penetrate deeper than lower K ones).

A good mix would be 10K supplemented with true actinic (I know, almost impossible to find in PC's). You may also want to consider using just 20K bulbs.

I don't buy the hype regarding lower watt bulbs giving out the same as PC or MH. They are nothing more than glorified fluorescent tubes. Tritons were advertised basically the same way for years and they may have a slightly better output but nothing compared to the claims they were making. You could not grow acropora (colorfully and be able to frag it) under these lights like they claimed.
 
Thanks so much for the info...

I've decided to get another CF. It will have a 12K and an atinic. The bulbs in my current CF are a 10K and an atinic. I will have a total of 322W. When the money is a bit better, I'm going for the MH with the flourescents and atinics. I will definitley follow your advice about the placement of my corals and mushrooms. It sure helps to talk to those in the KNOW!
Thanks again!!!
 
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