Lighting,. to start

[piznac]

Ok question..
Im about to convert my 46gl bow front over to salt. Sad it is,. I have a great community going,.. Angels, School of Sebra Tetras, couple of emerald cories(going for school but..) and so many platies,.. lol. Man I just love those platy's. I have a 55 but I dont feel I can handle two tanks right now. Plus that is such a awesome tank.

Anywho,.. I will be getting a MH light in time. But IMO theres no point in running such a light untill I have something to run it for. First I want to get through the cycle,.. tackle that,.. and get a clean up crew. So right now I have two NO florecents(sp?) 36" ,. 35 watts I beleive. Whats the best (cheaper,. since a I will be going Halides in the future) NO's I can get, that will look good for my cycle and a few chromises and clowns(false percs if I can find them:roll: ) (after cycle of course)? I know I need to give a bit more info,. but Im kinda playing it by ear. I have a skimmer and I have about 30lbs of reef rock (deader then dead) that I hope to seed with some great stuff over at Cap's... but the lighting untill I get the halides is a bit confusing. Should I spend any money on them? I was looking at some atinics and a 10,00 k NO. But honestly thats about 40 bucks,.. my question is,. is it worth it?

 

[cameron]

I would buy some used PCs off someone here and run those until I got something harder to keep. You can probably buy a nice used lighting setup for the same price as your MH bulb.

 

[piznac]

Yeah,. but I hate to waste the money on something I wont use long,.. and <span style="font-size: 12px;">reefman61686 you seem to have gone over your quota on PM's so I cant reply to you.</span>

 

[reefman61686]

ok sorry got that fixed

 

[cameron]

It just depends on how long you are going to be running before you put something needing that kind of light in your aquarium. If you are going to run 4+ months before you put anything needing a 250 in a shallow tank then throwing $50 is going to be a wash. 250s are hotter, consume more power and their bulbs are generally 50+ bucks depending on the quality of the bulb which is usually replaced annually.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I simi agree... People run FOLR systems on NO lighting. You will not get much in the way of color on your rocks. I would go with PC lighting at the very least. Spend the little bit now to get a full wavelength and save yourself some problems in the future.

 

[matttvi]

Do you have an idea of the types of coral you want to keep?

 

[piznac]

Well for the first 3-4 months none. I really want to get my feet wet with salt water chemistry first.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

I agree, buy used. To be honest, buy anything. Photosynthetic life will be far more picky in terms of light than will be live rock and fish. I think a mix of 10k and actinics look the best. I do think the rock will purple up, also, as long as you have good calcium and alkalinty control. Regular water changes should be enough. You'll probably actually lose coralline once you update to brighter lights.

 

[matttvi]

piznac wrote: Well for the first 3-4 months none. I really want to get my feet wet with salt water chemistry first.

Well my friend, then you want to read the articles Dr. Randle Holmes-Farley has written. You can get them off the chemistry forum on RC. Randle is the man!

Check the dry goods section here for excellent deals on used equipment!

 

[fishybusiness]

jmaneyapanda wrote: I agree, buy used. To be honest, buy anything. Photosynthetic life will be far more picky in terms of light than will be live rock and fish. I think a mix of 10k and actinics look the best. I do think the rock will purple up, also, as long as you have good calcium and alkalinty control. Regular water changes should be enough. You'll probably actually lose coralline once you update to brighter lights.

Right on this one. I setup a 175 for someone and we put in live rock, now 4 years later the rock still has its color. Granted there are PC's on this tank but only around 2 watts per gallon. Some stuff still grows up that all of the fish wont eat. IMO the corralline has adapted to using what trace elements come from the water changes since no supplements have ever been added to the tank other than a ph buffer.
10k's and actinics are also one of my favorite combos and used is always cheaper.