Brain Question

[ZenKitty]

I want to get a yellow open brain I have been coveting at my LFS for a long time- Just want to make sure that it would have enough light at the bottom of my 16 gallon with 96 watts of PC lighting- what do you guys think??

[fishgills]

I believe it will be fine under your lighting.

[icereefer]

Myself since it has synbiotic algae Living in it , would only put in a tank with Vho's or MH.
but then again that's me.

[MikeS]

I'm with ice....VHO's and or MH's....(mine did fine under VHO/PCF's until it got mangled in a maintenance accident)

Mike

[ZenKitty]

Hmmmm, Alright, I'll just stick with my sun corals....Thanks guys :)

[guzz64]

I think you have enough lighting to put that coral in. I have one in my tank with PC lights and it is growing and doing fine.

[MikeS]

Zenkitty, have you considered adding addtional light to your tank to suppliment the PC's?

Also, how deep is your tank?

Here's the thing with PC's alone....there is some question as to the amount of useable light they produce for corals. They do produce some uesable light, but the spectrum differs from VHO, NO and T5, particularly in the 420nm actinic range.

Mike

[ZenKitty]

Hey Mike- I wish I had of known what I know now when I bought the Coralife light. The only thing I was thinking about was wattage per gallon and 96watts on 16 gallons is 6 watts per gallon- and of course the LFS said- "You could do just about any coral with that light" Then I learn that it's not just about watts per gallon when I want to get a clam and everyone told me I couldnt without MH :( Looking back- the lighting is the one thing I regret buying when I set up my tank. But as of now all my corals are looking really good. In the future I am planning on upgrading, what do you think of the new T5 craze? What makes them so much better than PC?

[cich1]

i'm with you ZenKitty, if i where to start over i would have spent the extra money and bought a mh/vho retrofit

[ZenKitty]

So this post got me thinking about T-5's, I have heard alot about them being so great and I did a little research- so if anyone else is interested here's a FAQ

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=75

It says that there almost as good as MH.....interesting :thinkhard:

[MikeS]

"as good" can be kinda relative.... :-D

The real advantage to MH's is their point intensity....it's far greater than any flourescent bulb. This point intensity allows the light to penetrate much more deeply into the tank. Also some theorize that another beneficial feture of MH's is that the point intensity of MH's most closely resembles the light pattern a coral would recieve in the wild from the sun.

PC's are not totally worthless....they are very intense, and can stand alone with some corals. You could add NO's, T5's or VHO's to your tank and that would greatly expand the list of corals you could keep. With T5's or VHO's, you could even IMO keep a T derasa clam...I have one in my 55 under PCF/VHO's that has been doing great for several years... (pics of him on my website in my signature)....although a T derasa would quickly outgrow a 16 gallon tank... :D

Mike

[ZenKitty]

Thanks for the info Mike! :) What I would really like to do is retrofit the Coralife hood I already have and add the T5's....I dont do the DIY thing- I like to keep things as simple as possible- but I already spent a bunch of money on the Coralife and I dont want to just trash it. Is there a way do do that? And if so- is it cost effective?

[ZenKitty]

Hhhhmmm....maybe this should get moved to the Equipment/ DIY forum now??

[MikeS]

Kitty...

You are in the same boat I was in when I first made the switch from FO to reef...I got a PC strip to add to my existing NO's...

When I decided I needed to upgrade from NO's to VHO's, I ordered the VHO's, ballast, endcaps, fan, and universal reflector. Then I "gutted" the PC strip of the bulbs, ballast, endcaps, ect, and put them in a DIY hood with the VHO's.

The hood was not as hard as I thought it would be to build. Here's some pics of it....

http://frankensteinsreef.tripod.com/mypieceofthereef/id2.html


Hope this helps....

Mike