30 gallon lighting question

[transmittedlove]

Okay. So I read Palletas book (and two others). I have most of everything I need hardware wise. I also decided against the nano cube and bought a 30 gallon (long) tank with hood + dual light strip. So really I'm almost all set to start the very first phase of running my SW tank.

I went and read OCCfan's post that has a lot of faq in it in the nano reef board but still didn't answer my only "hardware" problem. Lighting.

I still don't know what lighting would be best for me. I'm also concerned about heat. That was the one thing that interested me in the nano cubes was that they had a built-in fan. With this hood there isn't. So.. what bulbs would you suggest I use for the size of my tank and would heat be a problem with my tank size? I thought maybe more water less concern with heat from bulbs but then again I really have no idea. There's just not a whole lot of coverage on lighting in any of the books I've read. Not only am I lost on the type of bulb but the wattage as well and ah, headache. I think I'm just going through SW aquarium knowledge overload.

 

[wayne]

The basic question is what do you want to keep

Q number 2 is do you want to keep a hood on your tank, and if so , how is that hood made.

Q3 is how much money do you have?

 

[transmittedlove]

1. I'm going to start off with just live rock, a clown and some invertebrates.

2. I'm not sure if I want to keep the hood or not. It's your run of the mill plastic hood w/ light strip. I have a glass top from my other 30 that would fit it. I just don't know whats best. In the books I've read hoods weren't really discussed.

3. After everything else I've bought I'm on a budget (not very tight but I'm not swimming in money over here). I'm willing to stretch if what I have simply wont do.

 

[wayne]

Oh well in that case go with the dual light strip, though you might want to change out the bulbs for something with a higher K rating, to get a more blue less yellow look. I would use a 10K and 20K, or 2 14's, something like that. Don't bother with anactinic - it wil look awful blue, but also dark, though of course you can if you want.
Note that almost nothing photosynthetic is likely to grow well in there, certainly not in more than 4 inches of water I'd guess.

 

[DustinKeating]

check out hellolights.com

I know so little about proper lighting, it's a hard topic imo. The more the merrier is a pretty general rule, and you want to get the right kelvin rating because otherwise you'll have things growing like algae that are being fed by you're lights. Some PC's (power compacts) but like i said, check out hellolights.com and see what you can afford.

 

[wayne]

Ah , for FOWLR fluorescent is adequate - you're only using it to see things.. If you get a 10K and 20K bulbs you'll likely get awesome coralline growth, plus you might well get mushrooms to do quite well

 

[1979camaro]

yah, if all you want is fish and some rock and maybe a few crabs/snails you don't need any special lights, your flourescents should be fine. as wayne said, some mushrooms might even grow under those lights, and of course you could go with sun polyps or other non-photosynthetic corals. if you decide you want coral down the road then its easy to upgrade. as far as the hood it is kind of up to you; my tank is open top but i am trying to get a lot more light over it than you are...keeping it covered will prevent evaporation.

 

[aresgod]

agreed that you should be fine with the lights you have for what you want, hoods do prevent evaporation and keep thigns from jumping out(thats why I use them) but the glass also filters out some light so...its your choice, but if you dont have photosynthetic organisms no worries, I personally like the fact that you get more evaporation with the hood off, simply because your adding more "Fresh" water which if your diligent about it and keep salinity levels stable, is a good thing

 

[transmittedlove]

Thanks for all the helpful responses.