HELP, What lights have I got????????????

Hi i recently bought a set up marine tank, complete with live rock, fish, skimmer, filter, power heads etc etc, i keep reading different posts about what lights you need to have and im really not sure what these are, the man gave me the box's for the bulbs as he only purchased them he week before so if i list what it says on the boxes im hoing someone will tell me what they are and if they are good enough cheers...

They are both Arcadia, one says Marine blue actinic, 18w, 600mm, 24"
the other one says marine white lamp, 18w, 600mm, 24",

just in case you need the tank measurements they are 36" wide, by 24" tall and it is a bow fronted tank so its ends are 13" deep while its middle is 16" deep............. im not very good at working out the water capacity so if anyone could help there, that would also be appreciated, i thought it was 50 gallon but not sure???????????????? thanks

 

there t8 i think.

your tank size is around 55 gallons

you dont have enough lighting for corals.

 

They are regular flourescent bulbs, you will want to use at least T5 High Output bulbs. The problem with your tank is that it is 24" deep. That is really too deep to use T5 High Output bulbs. You may need to resort to metal halide lighting, depending on what you want to keep. But as Sostoudt said, your current lighting isn't enough for corals.

 

OK so is it just a case of buy new bulbs and fit them into the lighting unit that i have already got?????

 

nope you need a whole new fixture.

 

if you want to start a post asking us to recommend fixtures you will get some good answers

 

You will get ton's of answer's on that post. It could go for day's. And the final result will be Tek..good luck.....Halides would suit you best though....
Danny

 

T5 is good for corals

even if the tank is 24" deep you should have at least 4" of sand bed to help naturally filter the water so your bottom will only be 20". I have a friend who cooked and sun burned his corals with T5 lighting by having them to close to the surface as people recomend on this site which isn't correct. T5 lighting is very powerful but people think that because it uses less watts that it isn't as powerful but these new lights are really good. If you want to know where to place the corals in your tank without burning them you need a light meter. If you use 6 T5's then you should be just fine I think you would be happy if you go on ebay and type (36" aquarium light) scroll down the list until you find the 6x39 T5 HO reef light with moonlights. Since your tank is 13" front to back on the sides you could fit the 8x39 T5 HO aquarium light with moonlights it comes with 3 cords one to turn on 4 T5's another cord to turn on the other 4 T5's and a separate cord for the moon lights so you can use timers to setup morning day and night cycles it is 12 deep and it comes with legs to set it ontop of your tank with. the 6 bulb is like $300 and the 8 bulb is like 350. It might seem like alot of money but the 8 T5's will be more powerful than a 250 watt metal halide but will use half the energy and run with a lot less heat to heat your house. Just think how much money you would spend if you bought the wrong lights the first time and killed a bunch of coral to only buy an expensive light in th end. I have found that this hobby can get expensive fast.

 

not that i dont agree t5's would be a good option
but
8x39=312 watts

this will not use half the energy of a 250 watt halide, i dont even think the cheapest ballast you could get would waste a extra 350 watts

both t5's and halides are good options, the key is to buy high quality with what ever you get. really i think you are in a position to choose what ever type you want halide or t5.

 

Hmmmmm. I would look into MH. A standard 55g, I would go TEK T5 all the way. But you have some odd dimensions to deal with, and I don't think T5s will do you justice. You don't hear me say it very often, but I would go MH.