55 gallon lighting question (1 Viewer)

[marcpuffer]

ok i have a 55 gallon that has been throu cycling and everything else i need some advice on what kind of lighting system i should get like a whole setup that would be good for growing hard and soft coral thank you and remember im a beginner so no real crazy terminolgy i just now figured out what lfs stood for thanks yall

 

[chadhender]

Go with Metal Halide because you will want it sooner or later.

 

[SeanB]

Power compact is also pretty versitile (and a lot cheaper); but you will be limited on what hard corals you can keep.

 

[Guest]

I feel you really need to tell us what you are wanting to have, not just hard and soft corals.

By hard do you mean montipora, acropora or
stuff like frogspawn, brains, candy canes?

What kinda of softies?

Decide about what you want, and make the lights
for that, the reason is price. Lights are expensive.
Having to upgrade lights is just wasteful spending if
you know you are going to do it later.

 

[Brad]

Marc,

One think to make sure you understand about MH is the heat involved. If you use hanging pendants without a hood you may be OK on a 55 but MH inside a hood will heat up a 55 pretty quickly and then you need to spend $500 plus on a chiller.

If you want to keep acros and clams this is probably the way to go. However, if you don't want to keep acros and clams there are lots of things you can keep under VHO. Monti's, leathers, brains, mushrooms, and lots of other stuff can all be kept under VHO.

When I had my 55 I used 4x110 VHO running on an Icecap 660 balast. I was very happy with this set up and with two computer fans I was able to keep the water at 80 deg and under.

I do like VHO over PC but you will find as many opinions on this as there are stars in the universe. When making my decision 4 years ago I read everything I could on Reefcentral and other websites to get everyones opinion. Just remember opinions are like (hum, I have to be politically correct here) noses, everyone has one but some smell better than others (pun intended).

Also, if you go with the VHO setup they make 46.5 inch VHO bulbs. These fit much easier inside a hood if your going to buy a retrofit kit and build it yourself.

Hope that gives you some insight and feel free to ask questions as you learn more and get confused more. We'd enjoy seeing you at our montly meetings and you can get some great opinions there also.

 

[marcpuffer]

i saw a hard coral that i liked alot called the toadstool or maybe pot coral anyways the guy at the store was trying to get me to buy the single satellite lighting system which he said would grow the hard coral i wanted and many soft corals and mushrooms is this true and if i do get the satellite system what would i really be able to grow with it thanks for everything in advance

 

[SeanB]

The satelite is a pc setup. It would do well for soft, but not many hard. If you go the pc route, make sure to check the Coralife Aqualights; reviews I read when I was shopping put them ahead of the Current USA (satelite/orbit).

 

[Guest]

Marcpuffer, I think you might really want to go to several stores, maybe meet up with a member of the club, so that way you can look at the differtn corals there are, and decide from there what it is you want in your tank.

I have a 29gal with a Metal Halide (150W double-ended) in a hood, my fan actually cools the water to good.

But its all about what you really want to keep.

Here are some sample pics on these clickable links of just a few of the corals in each class.

Softies
LPS (hard)
SPS (hard)

Hope this helps you look at some of what you might like to raise

 

[Brad]

i saw a hard coral that i liked alot called the toadstool

Very confused by this comment b/c a toadstool is a soft coral (leather) not a hard coral. Unless there is a hard coral with the same generic name. Did it look anything like the first two pictures on the "Softies" link Narkon provided?

What store were you at? If it looked like the softies picture and the store told you it was a hard coral, I would take extreme caution with their advice.

If I were you I'd spend more time learning about the pros and cons of MH, VHO and PC's from NONSTORE OWNERS. Many times they give good advice but they also have an agenda sometimes (i.e. sell stuff). You should read for many days and nights every thread you can stand on Reefcentral before you buy anything.

 

[Guest]

And then you will will come across the T-5 contreversity. I had thought of going t-5 on a 75.

It would be a 6 bulb system, 6.5K, 10K, 20K, blue plus, 2 actinics I was thinking.

This would be for LPS, some softies (mushrooms, rics, zoas, maybe xenia) and a couple of Monti caps would be all that would go in the tank, nothing to light intensive.

You T-5 Keepers what yall think?

 

[incysor]

i saw a hard coral that i liked alot called the toadstool

Very confused by this comment b/c a toadstool is a soft coral (leather) not a hard coral. Unless there is a hard coral with the same generic name. Did it look anything like the first two pictures on the "Softies" link Narkon provided?

What store were you at? If it looked like the softies picture and the store told you it was a hard coral, I would take extreme caution with their advice.

If I were you I'd spend more time learning about the pros and cons of MH, VHO and PC's from NONSTORE OWNERS. Many times they give good advice but they also have an agenda sometimes (i.e. sell stuff). You should read for many days and nights every thread you can stand on Reefcentral before you buy anything.

I'll just second this post. A toadstool is NOT a hard coral. Whoever told you this doesn't know what their talking about, and I'd steer clear of their advice.

 

[Trey]

I thought I would chime in on this. I have a 55 gallon and began with PC's. I have since upgraded because I was not happy with the level of growth seen for even the easiest of corals. If you buy softies that are already big enough for you, then PC will do, otherwise you will spend many hours staring at your tank wishing you had saved the money to buy the lights you really wanted. Needless to say, I now have one of the most expensive refugium lights in the hobby thanks to this spontaneous purchase.

The best route to take would be to look at tanks that you like and determine the direction you want to go with coral species. Consider that if you are driven by challenge, you will want the more difficult corals with time. I ended up with (2) 175 metal halides and (2) 46.5" VHO bulbs on my tank. I am tickled with the ability of the system to sustain and grow soft, LPS, and SPS corals.

As Brad said, heat can be an issue. I currently have two fans running on my hood that switches on and off with the lights and I run a 9 hour metal halide on period. My tank doesn't get above 82 F, but I have a fairly high daily water evaporation.

If you are a do-it-yourself type person, you can get much more bang (in this case lumens) for the buck. I built my hood and lighting system after I went through a large internet research effort.

Well have fun, and come see us at a meeting.

Later,
Trey

 

[Guest]

Trey, do you still have the plans (or link there to) for the Hood and lighting system you built?

 

[Guest]

I've been in the hobby for just six months, so definitely give more clout to the pros on this forum.
I have a 46 gal bowfront with several soft corals and inverts, just a few fish. I got a really fantastic deal on a metal halide setup and two blue flourescent bulbs a couple of weeks ago. It really brightens up my tank, and makes it look nice. However, it hasn't had any effect on my softies, and it's too bright for my mushrooms (had to move them to a darker spot.)
I'm very interested in hard corals, but I've decided not to get into it until i have a more established tank, more experience, and a thorough understanding of ph and calcium/alkalinity. Like Trey said, if you've got a nice setup with some soft corals, don't expect a world of difference with MH lighting.

 

[marcpuffer]

hi guys thanks for all the great advice i looked at the links and i really like the soft corals and the lps hard corals and i also thought about maybe getting an anemone i like the bubble tipped ones so guys what kind of lighting requirements would i need i was thinking the dual satellite system heres a link http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11418&N=2004+113176 tell me what you guys think and maybe give me some feedback on a better system around that price range thanks again for everything

 

[BrianPlankis]

If you want to keep anemones and lps hard corals you might want to think of investing in MH. the lps would probably be OK under the PC dual satellite, but I don't think you'd see much growth. I've been told that anemones really prefer MH to PC or VHO, of course that is the anemones that aren't deep water variety. But I only have 3 years of experience in the hobby, so I defer to the better judgement of others. If you THINK you'll ever want to go SPS, MH is the way to go.

B.

 

[incysor]

That setup (if you're talking about the dual 48" 4x65W one), should be fine for LPS, softies, and a BTA variant. However you won't see much growth out of your corals. I've kept all of the above on half as much light for the last 2yrs, but I wasn't really all that concerned about rapid coral growth, just being able to keep the pieces I bought healthy was my goal, and 130W managed that over my 55gal, and for the last few months over my 75gal. However I'll tell you that for at least the last 6-9 months I've been working to gather all the pieces to upgrade that lighting dramatically. Now that I've been in the hobby for a couple years my priorities have changed a bit and I'd really like to see my corals not just be healthy and maintain their shape but have the light they need to flourish and grow. Remember you have at least a month of cycle time where you shouldn't have your lights on anyway. Use that month to save up a bit more money and get the best light setup you can afford. Cause, you're likely to just want to upgrade it later anyway.