# coraline lighting



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

1x28"

12"

2x 40w

would all of these lights work for coraline algae to thrive

its a 10 gal but what else could i do to increase coraline growth?
would a nano skimmer be worth it?

any other lighting recomendations?
what would good stocking options be?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

sean-820 said:


> 1x28"
> 
> 12"
> 
> ...


coraline doesnt really need much light but it does need calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate (alkalinity)

it also needs good quality water with very low phosphates

and patients


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

nismo driver said:


> 1x28"
> 
> 12"
> 
> ...


coraline doesnt really need much light but it does need calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate (alkalinity)

it also needs good quality water with very low phosphates

*and patients*
[/quote]

i didnt know coraline was a doctor







hehehehe.

as nismo said, lighting isnt as important for coraline growth as having good levels of Ca, Mg, and Alk. give your tank 4-6 months, then you will see the coraline grow like crazy.

i came home after two weeks and one of my pump returns is now almost fully covered in purple coraline. the stuff is spreading REALLY fast. on the glass, up the back wall, on pump returns, the hydor flo is now purple, oh yeah...and the liverock.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

will any of the lights work for corals?

do you recomend me dosing with anything or just let it be? brand? dosing what? and frequency?


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

dont dose for ANYTHING unless you are testing the parameters regularly. ppl are far too eager to add nasty chemicals to their tanks, when most of the time they are unnecessary and could be solving with regular water changes.

if i were to choose one of those fixtures you listed, i would definitely go for the 2 x 40W fixture. i quite like the current USA lights. plus, since you would have more light, you would be able to keep more corals down the road (if you decide to) instead of having to buy yet another fixture.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Puff said:


> dont dose for ANYTHING unless you are testing the parameters regularly. ppl are far too eager to add nasty chemicals to their tanks, when most of the time they are unnecessary and could be solving with regular water changes.
> 
> if i were to choose one of those fixtures you listed, i would definitely go for the 2 x 40W fixture. i quite like the current USA lights. plus, since you would have more light, you would be able to keep more corals down the road (if you decide to) instead of having to buy yet another fixture.


thanks

i probably wouldnt be testing that much so your right. right now i only have general tests for sw (from a fw kit). should i get a calcium and those tests or would it be better to just get a master test kit?

what kinds of corals could i keep under the current lighting or coralife 96watt quad light? that are also very easy to care for and that are very hardy? how about those dragon eyes? the rock cover thats like florecent lime green around an eye shape circle?

do you know any places to order online or fo bulb replacement since the quad bulb and current replacementis about 150$ per year (100$ for 2 50$ current and i think 2x 100$ coralife)


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

sean-820 said:


> dont dose for ANYTHING unless you are testing the parameters regularly. ppl are far too eager to add nasty chemicals to their tanks, when most of the time they are unnecessary and could be solving with regular water changes.
> 
> if i were to choose one of those fixtures you listed, i would definitely go for the 2 x 40W fixture. i quite like the current USA lights. plus, since you would have more light, you would be able to keep more corals down the road (if you decide to) instead of having to buy yet another fixture.


thanks

i probably wouldnt be testing that much so your right. right now i only have general tests for sw (from a fw kit). should i get a calcium and those tests or would it be better to just get a master test kit?

what kinds of corals could i keep under the current lighting or coralife 96watt quad light? that are also very easy to care for and that are very hardy? how about those dragon eyes? the rock cover thats like florecent lime green around an eye shape circle?

do you know any places to order online or fo bulb replacement since the quad bulb and current replacementis about 150$ per year (100$ for 2 50$ current and i think 2x 100$ coralife)
[/quote]

i ran the coralife 96 quad for two years and having had that experiance with the fixture i would suggest going with the current fixture, the advantage is that you can run the actinic and 10k independant of each other. also means you can replace the bulbs seperately from each other.. while its true the bilbs loose there intensity the 10k is more important then the actinic. so lets say you replace the 10k every 6-9 months you could replace the actinic every 12 over time you save. plus the 96w has extremely limited bulb selecetion.

way more useful benifits with the current USA fixture

with that fixture teh good begginer hardycorals you could keep are green star polyps, zooanthids, mushrooms (ricordia), and quite a few other options to start with. a 10 gallno is shallow enough to get the most out of compact florecent lights.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

what about metal halides like:drfosters

70 or 150 watt?
whats the difference in the bulb options other then k output becasue some are double the cost of others? how long will a mh bulb last? how do you install fans? just blowing the air under the fixture?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

also if i got the 150w fixture (so i could use it after a tank upgrade- how big of a tank could the 150 light?) woudl i be able to use 70 watt bulbs in the fixture or would the 150 w bulb still work on the 10g


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

if you want a 70w halide ill sell you mine

150 is allot over a 10, i have one over my ten now and its going to be a major heat problem in the summer also you have to be very careful when adding new coral so you dont bleach them, if you run a 14k bulb with a 150 it wont have as much par so you would be less likely to bleach something but still alot of light over a ten.

70w is a pretty good bulb for a ten gallon, you would be able to keep pretty much anything as long as you use a 10k bulb, i have an iwasaki and the color is very nice, white with a slightly blue tint. witha 14k 70w you could have sps but it might not do so great, but softie color would be sweet

this is 10g with 96w quad









and this is with 70w sunpod 14k bulb 








here is 10k 70 watt over a 20g long 








here is 150w 10k over a 10gallon you need a welding mask to look a it








fan wise it really depends on which fixture you get. if its has built in fans. pendant or on legs ect ect..

general rule of thumb is one halide per 2 square feet, then the wattage dictates the depth of that 2 square feet.. so 150 goo for 12 - 18 inchs deep so for example if you had a 55gallon tnak two 150s would be good, even better with some t5 supplimentation.

250 ideal for 16 - 24 inchs deep then 300s and up for anythign over two feet deep.. but this also varie depending on what types of coral you have.. you can use a 150 over a 24 inch deep tank if you mount sps up hihg and softies down low but if you want hard corals, clams anenomies down low inteh tnak you need alot of wattage.. you wont have any limitations with a 150 over a ten gallon..

color choice is typically determined by if you will have any florecent supplimentation altough some people just really like blue so they go for 14k or 20k with actinic.. but you get the most bang out of 10k with actinic t-5. most 14k or 20k have considerably lower PAR then 10k.


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

dude. buy nismo's 70W halide. probably the same price or cheaper than compacts or T5s, but i think halides are so much better. sure they run hotter, but it looks very natural and awesome!

i have a 150W HQI metal halide over my 24 gallon. i love it. that said, im thinking of purchasing a phoenix bulb as a replacement.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

how much for the 70w?
if i did go with the 150 could i use a 70w bulb in it untill i upgrade tanks?
whats the bulb changing schedule? how often?

what could i grow with a 150 as opposed to a 70?
this is my first sw so i wont be getting any clams or probably no hard corals either unless there are some easy ones?

the second pic is what i kinda want mine to look like

what other things would i need to acheive that?

beautiful tanks btw


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

if it's only a 10 gallon then 150W would probably bleach everything in there.

no, you cannot use a 70W bulb in a 150W fixture.

just stick with the 70W, it is better suited to your tank. if you went with a 150 you would need to do a lot of light acclimating everytime you added something new. (which sucks!)


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

by the time of the second pic i was running a ehiem 2215 cannister filter with rubble and a bag of GFO and carbon but i had to clean the thing almost weekly and it was a real pain in the neck... you would be fine with two koralia powerheads and a HOB filter just to break the water surface and create some gas exchange. then do regular weekly small water changes of about 1 gallon and daily top offs.. sound like you just want a mixed softie tank which typically look great with low levels of nutrients...

the 70w could support pretty much anything but the highest light demanding sps but for some hard corals you would want to place them more towards the middle, with the 150 you wouldnt have any limitations but would have issues with possibly bleaching low light corals and you would have high heat and alot fo evaporation, the 70w doesnt put off a lot of heat. the 14k bulb does look nicer but the 79w puts out more PAR, the bulb in it now does have pretty good color for a 10k.

you cant run a 70w with a 150 ballast.. there was a good analysis of intensity loss of halides over time, the averageresult was that the most out put was lost over the first three months then very gradual after that so replacing after 9 months or 12 months isnt much differencebut the real issue is how the spectrum changes over time..

the bulb in the fixture now has about 6 months of use so it has a few more months left, bubls are 50 - 70. i will sell it for 150 shipped with a timer and a hanging kit plus the custom legs to fit it over the tamk.

if you look at picture 2 you will notice the fixture is 16.5 inch so it doesnt fit over the 10 perfectly like the 20inch fixture in picture 4. but i cut pvc to 10inchs and notched it to rest perfectly across teh tank and zip tie it to the legs of the fixture works great..the other option is to use the cables and hang it from the ceiling over the tank


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## jasert39 (May 1, 2003)

coraline algea is a funny thing...when you dont have it you want it, when you do you get tired of scraping your glass. For some reason I found that I had much more coraline growth when I was running t5's lights as compared to running the MH that I have now.

If I were going to have a 10 gallon tank, I would do a shrimp/goby combo. I have been looking for one know for some time for my tank and would love for them to be the centerpiece of a small tank.

and my thoughts on dosing/additive...Don't add anything that you can't test for, If you test are correct that let the tank be. Coraline will grow eventually if you tank is healthy (and there was some in there on the rocks or something to begin with)...no reason to add anything to get it going.

good luck.


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

funny thing, i have SOME purple growing but more floresent green algea growing. i wonder whats up with that, someone said it was reg algea, but its not, the green is sooo bright and pretty...anyone care to elab on this?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

What kinds of things could i keep with a 20" 70w MH light?
How often do you need to change the bulb? cost per bulb?

link


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

sean-820 said:


> What kinds of things could i keep with a 20" 70w MH light?
> How often do you need to change the bulb? cost per bulb?
> 
> link


not much limit of what you can keep with that except for a few veryhigh light SPS, its the 20 inch version of what i used for close to a year. The stock bulb was crap though, 14k for 70w is too dim and it stopped firing after only two months. I replaced it with a 10k ushio (i think), the 70w bulbs are abouthtesmae price or more expensive then most 150w bulbs because they dont sell alot and the choices are limited. 50 - 80 bucks. a good bulb should last a long time but should be replaced after about 9 months depending on how long you run the light cycle. the light quality deteriorates over time and by about the 9 - 12 month mark it hits about 70 percent effectiveness and should be replaced. thats a decent sale price they have.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

nismo driver said:


> What kinds of things could i keep with a 20" 70w MH light?
> How often do you need to change the bulb? cost per bulb?
> 
> link


not much limit of what you can keep with that except for a few veryhigh light SPS, its the 20 inch version of what i used for close to a year. The stock bulb was crap though, 14k for 70w is too dim and it stopped firing after only two months. I replaced it with a 10k ushio (i think), the 70w bulbs are abouthtesmae price or more expensive then most 150w bulbs because they dont sell alot and the choices are limited. 50 - 80 bucks. a good bulb should last a long time but should be replaced after about 9 months depending on how long you run the light cycle. the light quality deteriorates over time and by about the 9 - 12 month mark it hits about 70 percent effectiveness and should be replaced. thats a decent sale price they have.
[/quote]

I thought that the 14k would be better then the 10k. no? or is it just becasue the 10k is a better bulb?

how often to replace led pannels? cost?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

sean-820 said:


> What kinds of things could i keep with a 20" 70w MH light?
> How often do you need to change the bulb? cost per bulb?
> 
> link


not much limit of what you can keep with that except for a few veryhigh light SPS, its the 20 inch version of what i used for close to a year. The stock bulb was crap though, 14k for 70w is too dim and it stopped firing after only two months. I replaced it with a 10k ushio (i think), the 70w bulbs are abouthtesmae price or more expensive then most 150w bulbs because they dont sell alot and the choices are limited. 50 - 80 bucks. a good bulb should last a long time but should be replaced after about 9 months depending on how long you run the light cycle. the light quality deteriorates over time and by about the 9 - 12 month mark it hits about 70 percent effectiveness and should be replaced. thats a decent sale price they have.
[/quote]

I thought that the 14k would be better then the 10k. no? or is it just becasue the 10k is a better bulb?

how often to replace led pannels? cost?
[/quote]`

the led panels are more for astetics then function, when the halide is on you wont notice them and at night its more for your enjoyment then anything

the reason they put a 14k in the fixture stock is because there isnt any actinic suppliment so you get the bluelook and thats fine alot of people like 14k or even 20k but 14k and 20k bulbs put out A LOT lESS PAR (what corals use for photosythinisis) witha 70w you already have some what low PAR so using a 10k gives you more bang from the light some 10k's are almost as blue as some 14k's.. there really istn a standard color from vendor to vendor and different ballast can get slightly differnt color out of the same bulb..

if you scroll up i posted the 70w with 14k and 70w with 10k already


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

could i keep anythign under a current usa fixture that is only 40w
it is the same as the link but one bulb not two. I mean could i keep any soft corals?

What are good sites to get nano lighting from?
I only really want soft corals that are hardy and low maitnence so what woudl the best corals and ligthign be for me?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

sean-820 said:


> could i keep anythign under a current usa fixture that is only 40w
> it is the same as the link but one bulb not two. I mean could i keep any soft corals?
> 
> What are good sites to get nano lighting from?
> I only really want soft corals that are hardy and low maitnence so what woudl the best corals and ligthign be for me?


How much "Low maintenance are you looking for?

to be honest i wouldnt go less then teh dual satalite.. you might be bale to keep mushroms and zooanthids but growth wil b very slow and boring.

all the usuall places that have already been linked just search the online vendors for the best deal, marine depot will also price match if you give a link to a lower price then theirs.

so at this point id say we have covered the options so just decided and let us know..


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