Hi im looking at buying a light system for my 20 gallon high fish with live rock currently. really just looking to really get the live rock going. but possibly corals in the future. The systems im looking at are the coralife aqualight and the custom sea life smartlite both are 65 watt 50/50 single bulb strip lights is this enough light for my tank?
lighting a 20gallon high
- Thread starter rennocneb
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So you have 130 watts of light on a 20 high, That is 6.5 watts per gallon. You also have a high tank. If I were you I would double the light if you have the money. If you want to to corals you will need lots of light for them to do well (for most corals). I am new to saltwater but have been doing a lot of research and I would say the more light the better.
Are you running a Protein Skimmer?
Are you running a Protein Skimmer?
What corals do you want to keep? Decide that, then pick your lighting - there are plenty which will do well in your current setup and plenty that will fail miserably.
Watts per gallon is about as reliable as inches per gallon stocking rules - take with a large pinch of salt. And being told between 2 -5 watts per gallon - what sort of range is that, minimum = 40% max reads pretty crude
Watts per gallon is about as reliable as inches per gallon stocking rules - take with a large pinch of salt. And being told between 2 -5 watts per gallon - what sort of range is that, minimum = 40% max reads pretty crude
watts per gallon means nothing. i have 150w of lighting on my 30g tank, and that's not nearly enough for what i want.
if you are looking on keeping coral, look into metal halides. they are the next best thing to actual sunlight, but they are also deadly when it comes to heat. actinic bulbs will get your coraline algae growing and they are also great for coral.
it's also harder to light up a tall tank because the light won't penetrate the water as well, so you'll need more watts and that'll end up heating up the tank.
soft corals (mushrooms, polyps, etc) will do alright in your tank. when you get into the hard corals (LPS and SPS), your going to definetly need metal halides.
Tim
if you are looking on keeping coral, look into metal halides. they are the next best thing to actual sunlight, but they are also deadly when it comes to heat. actinic bulbs will get your coraline algae growing and they are also great for coral.
it's also harder to light up a tall tank because the light won't penetrate the water as well, so you'll need more watts and that'll end up heating up the tank.
soft corals (mushrooms, polyps, etc) will do alright in your tank. when you get into the hard corals (LPS and SPS), your going to definetly need metal halides.
Tim
i'd still add another 65w bulb on there. anenomes like light. 50/50 would be a good choice, but if you want to see more of it, add a 10,000k bulb.
if you want your anenome in a certain place, put it there and once it attaches itself, feed it a lot of food. it'll think 'oh yeah so this is where all the food comes to i'll stay here'.
there's an article somewhere that tells you how to split anenomes. some dude bought an anenome, and he got it to split like hundreds of times and he keeps on selling it to the LFS. i dunno if it's true, but if i find it i'll post it up here.
Tim
if you want your anenome in a certain place, put it there and once it attaches itself, feed it a lot of food. it'll think 'oh yeah so this is where all the food comes to i'll stay here'.
there's an article somewhere that tells you how to split anenomes. some dude bought an anenome, and he got it to split like hundreds of times and he keeps on selling it to the LFS. i dunno if it's true, but if i find it i'll post it up here.
Tim
hi how about if i want to just have pretty live rock and some easy to keep corals? im looking at the coralife aqualight in 65 and 130 watt versions. and the custom sea life smartlite 65 watt and custom sea life moonlight hood 130 with moonlight. just wanting to know if its worth the extra cash for what i want to do or should i look into a better skimmer im using a cpr but thats going to my bigger tank and ill be stuck with a skilter 250 on this one
i'd still get more lighting. 130w on your 20g is pretty good. just stick the harder to keep corals up higher on your rock.
get your lights set up before you get the corals and fish. i made the mistake of getting everything set up without any extra money, so i'm just getting all my lights now and i have to acclimatize everything which is a pain in the butt to do.
keep your cpr on your 20g. get a better skimmer for the bigger tank like a remora pro or something like that.
Tim
get your lights set up before you get the corals and fish. i made the mistake of getting everything set up without any extra money, so i'm just getting all my lights now and i have to acclimatize everything which is a pain in the butt to do.
keep your cpr on your 20g. get a better skimmer for the bigger tank like a remora pro or something like that.
Tim