lighting Q..

Mickadee · 09-14-2001, 11:14 PM

at the moment I am too broke to get the lighting that I want to get but I was wandering wal-mart has 48inch (would go on a 55 gal tank) shop light fixtures for about 8 bucks would they work with reef tank lighting I bought 2 of them so I have 4 light spots if I could get them to work.. what combo of lights would go good if any. and how far would they be placed from the top of the tank.
if I cant use them for this then I have other uses for them so I didnt lose out on anything there but the hoods that I had only helt 18 inch lights so not much in the way of light for a tank.

I appreciate the help

thanks
Mike

God Bless us all !!!

Hermit · 09-15-2001, 10:33 AM

Mike,

The shop lights will work, as they are flourescent fixtures. However, they are not designed to be near SW, so they will corrode quickly, I believe. Also, because they are not VHO, IMO, they are not really strong enough for most reef critters.

I asked this question before, so you may want to do a search to see the more in-depth responses I received.

Brooke · 09-15-2001, 11:56 AM

Ditto, was was said above.

Also, go to a fish store and get the proper kelvin bulbs. Half 5500 or 6500k daylight bulbs and half actinic should be good. You could also experiment with the 50/50 bulbs till you find the combo that is most pleasing. This will work...and you can get coralline growth on live rock with this light, but please do not attempt to keep sensitive inverts with this lighting.

Brooke

fishinchick · 09-15-2001, 01:29 PM

While we are on the subj. of lighting, One of my tanks is by a window that was once covered by a tree. Well the tree died, got cut down and now the tank gets a decent amount of sunlight. In there for lighting right now I have a 50/50 and an actinic that is on for 9 hrs a day. Is the sunlight going to be bad for the tank? Its never direct so i am not worried about heat/cold etc. The light it gets is relatively indirect but pretty bright. Hopefully its a good thing. I DID have a brief diatom outbreak but I think that was MY fault. Everything seems to be testing okay, I just dont want to move the tank. The fish appear to like the view.

The tank was SUPPOSED to be fish only but I happened upon some extra LR from a friend whos tank cracked and having no place else to put it, put it into that tank. Then suddenly polyps and corals appeared so I guess that was cool enough. I just dont want to kill anything, ya know?

Any ideas?

Mickadee · 09-15-2001, 02:17 PM

yeah these lights are not going to be the permant lights for the tank just a makeshift till I can find what I want and can afford them no corals at this time I just have a few fish in the tank. but was wanting to get some ideas on how high to put them so there is less corrosion. or if I should stay with the crappy lights that fit in the original hoods they are only 18 inch lights so they are pretty dim.