New Tank Planning - Lights

What type/wattage lights do you have on your tank(s)? What size tanks do you have?

 

I really like my VHO's on my main tank that is full of lps corals. I have a 250watt HQI on my clam tank. When I build again I will do a diy HQI setup for the main tank. I don't really know enough about the name brands to say that one is better or worse than another.

 

go to this link to my diy hqi light i use it on my 75 and 29 with super results


http://www.razorbackreef.org/old/phpBB ... c.php?t=33

 

I have a 96 watt quad compact on my 20T. I think I'm losing an awful lot of light to my reflector. Aluminum seems to corrode like absolute power. I'm considering looking for stainless steel sheet and buffing it. I'm also thinking I'll get a second lamp at the same time. I'm falling in love with light and flow, and I wonder if I will ever have enough of either. :twisted:

 

What color temperature bulbs do you guys use?

 

Most everything I've found/read does not support your theory. Can you point me to some articles that support all actinic as being the most beneficial lighting design?

 

Chill out dude.

Although far from being an expert in this hobby, I consider myself something other than a gullible neophyte. If I'm researching a topic, I like to gather as much information as possible from as many different sources as practical. If a person only offers anecdotal evidence on a particular topic and has not produced any other background information supporting his theories, then that person shouldn't be so sensitive to being questioned and asked to provide other sources to backup the claims.

If you purport to be an expert, back it up. The personal attacks are counterproductive and poison the atmosphere we're trying to establish here.

 

I just found this article on Sanjay Joshi's tank. It details the lights he had at the time of the article which looks several years old:

From http://www.personal.psu.edu/sbj4/aquari ... yJoshi.htm

Wonder if he's changed his lighting philosophy much in the last few years?

 

I use the half daylight (10k)/ half actinic bulb largely for aesthetic reasons, but also because the two sets of phosphors complement each other well.


Tim-

You're way out of line. I don't know you. Maybe you've had a bad day or something. Maybe your wife left you / dog died, I dunno, but if you need someone to talk to or whatever shoot me an email and I'll give you a call. We all have our pet peeves and whatever, and we all snap from time to time, but you had to snap long enough to write all of that and still hit Submit. Not cool, dude. All Joe asked for was a little support of your very dissenting opinion on aquarium lights. Lights. It wasn't even about abortion or legalizing weed or anything worth calling important. He wasn't even trying to argue with you. It's not like he called you a liar or stupid piece of crap. Like I said, I don't know you. Maybe you're looking for a fight? It's been years since I wrestled but if you've got some angst to work out, I could certainly use the exercise. Or we could drive around in old used cars and throw eggs and toilet paper at each other's houses or something. We could totally relive high school if you'd think it would help with whatever it is that's going on. Life's way too short and fleeting to blow it on getting jumpy because someone asked how you decided on your favorite lightbulb. Maybe your response seems perfectly appropriate to you? If it didn't come instinctively that your response was very unbalanced, then understand that tone can be learned. If it did, consider having someone, significant other, coworker, whatever, read your posts and emails and give feedback. It'll help keep your foot out of your mouth.

Peace.

 

There are two main schools of thought when it comes to artificial lighting for photosynthetic purposes. I will keep the nit-picky to a minimum. One school of thought has it to mimic the natural lighting as perfectly as possible. The argument, though not without flaw, is that all of these things evolved from the primordial ooze under the light of the Sun. We know that works. The other school says we should match the light to what is absorbed best by the photosynthetic pigments. The rationale is that we can more efficiently deliver food to the organism. There are lots of problems with this school, too.


A couple interesting tidbits. People who grow pot indoors to sell prefer the second method. People who grow pot indoors for their own use are more likely to be in the first group. (I know I've just made two posts mentioning drugs in one night, and even in the same thread, but I swear on my yellow clown goby's skimmate grave I've never done drugs. Heck, I was 27 or 28 the first time I had a beer.)

 

The post I removed as the site administrator was off-topic and had nothing to do with the lighting discussion.

 

Tim-

Just cut it out. You're neither promoting good reefkeeping nor impressing anyone. Let me provide you with a free pat answer. The next time Joe or anyone else questions you in a way you feel inappropriate, just link a picture of your tank and say "I do it because it works. The proof is in the pudding." Then just drop it. Not only will you get your point across, but you'll improve your image, since we all know the difference between running in the special olympics and arguing over the internet. I know the last thing you want is to drive those that are trying to do right from the lifestyle.

 

TGreene -

Your abrasiveness is rather shocking and the cavalier way in which you use it is that much more unsettling. It is apparent that you have strong feelings about alot of things, but in the way that you present them, the best that can be said is that you are passionate about reefing. I have attended every MACNA since Dallas four years ago and have listened to the top authorities on lighting discuss these issues across the dinner table from me and at no time have I ever heard any one of those people answer "hell no, I will not tell you how I know that" when asked a question by a fellow reefer. I don't think that many people would be attending the conferences if that were the case. Razorback Reef is lucky enough to have some very good people involved in bringing education about the difficult concepts in reef keeping to Arkansans. I would appreciate it if you considered the way in which your responses on this forum are conducted, the current direction of your posts are becoming very destructive.

Chris Braithwaite
President - Razorback Reef Marine Aquarium Society