do flourcesents provide any benificial lighting for corals

just wondering

 

Which type of flourcesents? If its the regular FL bulbs that you find in HD or Lowes..........no If its the PC(power compacts)..........yes, but not all types of corals. Both will however, help algae growth. Luna

 

depends upon the type. but yes. vho's,hos, nos where common back in the day.

t-5 which are very popular are flourescent

 

gotcha thanks for your feed back. Happy reefing.

 

FWIW, next week will be my 15th anniversary in this reefing hobby. In that time, I have used only normal output fluorescent lamps. I started to experiment with T5 but the tank began leaking and I had to transfer everything over to another tank that I had shut down. I have been unable to repair that tank for some time although I hope to have it done within a few months if I can get some help.
Basically I use "wall to wall" lighting. My tanks are mostly four foot long and I use GE Daylight lamps (Walmart and Canadian Tire) paired with Philips Actinic 03's(hydroponic stores). I use timers to have the lights come on and go off in stages. One could use perhaps a pair of lamps less, and go with all lamps on and off at the same time. I DO however have a long on time from 6:30 am to 9 pm for the initial pair of lamps, with varying on/off times for second, third, and fourth pairs, depending on the needs of each tank.
Because I build my own hoods, I can fit these lamps to suit my needs.
I can fit 8 four ft. lamps over 65's, 75's, 65's and six lamps over my 55 that I no longer have.
As these lamps worked for me, I saw no need to switch to metal halide lighting as I eventually was told I had need of.
I keep softies and LPS corals mostly with my only sps coral being a hydnaphora. I also have clams and a sebae anemone that was the first thing I purchased 15 yrs ago January along with a sebae clown which were available back then.
Some years back when I got a computer, I found out that I couldn't do all the things I'd been doing for years, but as it was working for me I saw no need to change.
Another prominent forum I frequent, as it provides my local marine club space for their forum, has an owner that will not allow me to post of my methods because it leads others to believe they can do it also. In addition, I'm doing my "creatures" a disservice as they are suffering drastically with this low lighting and my lack of feeding the clams/anemone/corals.
Well, it was good enough for all the people that started before, and up to when I started, and I see no sign of my "creatures" suffering.
I have made a lot of money selling to other hobbyists in our club, and through the LFS's.
So, while I still use it, I don't specifically advocate using N.O. fluorescent lamps as it limits keeping of such corals as the higher light requiring sps corals.
However, for someone on a limited budget who prefers LPS to sps corals, there is no reason why that person couldn't have a very satisfying tank lit up with N.O. fluorescents.

 

I used to use normal output flourescent lights when I got into reef tanks back in the early 90s. They worked fine and we kept all sorts of corals. We had a 180 gallon tank that was loaded with liverock and an elegance coral that was huge. This was lit with 8 4 foot normal output lights and was the main display tank at a pet store in a very upper class city in California.

With all that said I would still recommend better lighting if given the chance. Just because something can be done doesnt make it the best was of doing something.

I went with a 4 bulb T5 HO light hood on my 55 gallon due to cost and the ability to keep a wide variety of corals. Not all but I cant afford to stock the tank too much. =)