Lighting

Just a quick question. I all ready have a triple T8 lighting system for a total of 108 watts, I am looking at adding on and I am deciding between A 48 inch 108 watt T5 system of a Compact Fluorescent for a total of 220. What do you think? The most sensitive coral I will be keeping will be frogspawn and hammer, the rest are mushrooms, polyps and xenia.



Thanks,

 

That depends on size of the tank. Not just gallons, but also depth. Need more info to accurately guide you. However, as a guess, that sounds like it would be a good idea to increase the light.

Hope this helps, for now.

Aaron

 

It is a 75 gallon tank, 19 inches deep.

Thanks,

 

I would definstely say that an upgrade is needed. Eventhough watts is not a measure of light intensity, a rule of thumb is about 4 or 5 watts per gallon. Since your tank is relatively shallow, MH aren't "necessary". I think more wattage is, however. Truthfully, 220 still may be a bit low, but you can offset this by placing animals requiring high light closer to the top.


Hope this helps,

Aaron

 

I don't know if this will help but in my tank (55 gal 48" long) I have LPS's and softs as well as anenome's that have been doing great with 260 watts of power compact.