what kind of lighting?

[miztahphong]

hey i have a 50 gallon tank. im just starting on it and i was wondering what kind of light i would need to keep a reef tank? please respond.

[Condiman]

What kind of coral do you plan on keeping? Are you more interested in brilliant colors or just for growth?

[rememberme]

You could get away with flourescent tubes (2 white and 2 blue would be nice) and you could keep things like star polyps, button polyps etc

You could go for T5's which will let you keep almost everything so long as the tank isn't too deep... Check with sites about the lighting requirement. Unless they are extremely fussy, your be ok.

Or Metal Halides that will allow you to have anything and everything (these are the most powerful lights and should be your 1st goal if money is no object)!! Whan I say everything and anything - it means pretty much anything in your LFS...

What ever you choose, make sure you have a decent amount of watts per gallon. Search google for information about this.

[miztahphong]

i want brilliant colored and nice sized corals. ive read it says about 3 to 5 watts of lighting per gallon. im thinking about 150 - 170 watts total. what are some cheap light bulbs i can get? please respond again.. :razz:

[Condiman]

Well if I were you I would go with 250 watt MH and VHO acintics to go with it. This will save you in the long run because the corals will grow better and the colors will be magnificent. To chose the type of MH bulb go to this link and look at the different pics and see which one you like the best. http://www.coralforum.com/ftopic152.html&highlight=lighting+comparison

[Charles Poole]

3 -5 watts per gallon is the bottom to mid range level of lighting. This is a really ambiguous scale though, because it does not take into affect the actual depths at which the organisms will be placed.

I think that Condimans reply above is more on target for not having to worry if you have enough lighting.

You really need to research the corals you want to keep before you make your lighting choice. This is the most effective way to determine what you will need to get... :)

[miztahphong]

hello again, ive found something.. ive found a bulb. its an iwasaki 250 watt 6500k. i was thinking would it be enough lighting to keep nice colored coras in my 50 gallon tank good enough? i was planning on using the iwasaki bulb for morning and in the afternoon towards night time turn off the iwasaki lighting and turning on a blue flourescent light before the lighting completely turns off for the night.. how do ya think that will work? :D

[miztahphong]

ohh yeah the light is an iwasaki 250 watt 6500k mh lamp is the complete name for it i guess

[MikeS]

i want brilliant colored and nice sized corals. ive read it says about 3 to 5 watts of lighting per gallon. im thinking about 150 - 170 watts total. what are some cheap light bulbs i can get? please respond again.. :razz:

Brilliant colored and nice sized pretty much covers most corals... :-D

My advice is to get a light setup that will allow you to keep the most variety of corals, that way you don't need to upgrade the lighting down the road when your tastes and experience expands.

Charles is right, wattage is more of a function of tank depth than actual gallons of tank space. What are the dimensions of your tank?

The 6500K iwasaki is a good bulb, a favorite among the metal halide group, I've heard nothing but positive things about it. (when I move the contents of my tank to a larger one, I'm going to add a pair of iwasakis to my PCF/VHO combo... ) You'll probably want to use it in tandem with a pair of VHO actintic bulbs, this will give you a pretty powerful and versitile light setup.

As for being cheap....well....good reef lighting is seldom "cheap"....

Mike

[blackangler]

i would go with the 10 or 20k bulbs i just feel that the 6500 is to yello

[Charles Poole]

Or you could run the actinic light at the same time as the MH. This will reduce a bit of the yellowing affect. Just put them on a timer to come on before the MH and go off after the MH.

I have heard nothing but good news about the Iwasaki 6500k 250W Mh bulbs. A good choice IMO... :)

[miztahphong]

does anyone think that 500 watts total lighting is too much for a 50 gallon reef?

[Condiman]

I wouldnt think so if you have it setup correctly it should be ok

[Charles Poole]

What are the demensions of this 50 gallon tank.

Ie. Length x Width x Height

[rememberme]

Here's my attempt at swinging you in favour of the Iwasaki...

I know several tanks (one being a coral farm here in the UK) that use the Iwasaki 6500k bulbs for their corals. I myself have 3 of these (hence why I am bias) and have read good things about them.

The only down point is that they do look a little more yellow than some other rated bulbs. However, there are two come backs to this. The first it that you can easily add actinic tubes to your lighting unit which will offset the tank to a great colour. The second being that the Iwasaki gives off more blue light than many of the higher temperature bulbs, but because the yellow end is even higher, the blue looks a little less than it really is:

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/nov/features/1/default.asp

This guy also has a great tank and uses 6 400w Iwasaki bulbs (plus additional blue VHOs)...

http://www.rockcanyon.com/reef/equipment.htm

Well anyway, I don't want to sound like a salesman, but there is some info on the bulb... PLUS they are probably one of the cheapest MH bulbs you can get and your recieve more light that your corals will thrive on!!!

[Paidbychrist0825]

that first link is dead bro