FOWLR, how much light for LR?

dz6t

Acro Garden, BRS Sponsor
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BRS Member
Hi:

Sorry for such as newbie question:

How many watts of PC light per gallon for live rock? I am talking about FOWLR, no coral. Thanks

Thank you very much.

By the way, I wish my wife was a reefer...

Thanks

DZ
 
she'll get into in !! how big is the tank i think you can get away with 2-3 watts per gallon.. with live rock ...
 
You can get away with as little light as you want, as long as you can still see the fish in there. It will look better if you light it well, but a bright tank will have algae growth unless you watch the water parameters the way you would in a reef.

I'd put a couple of regular output florescent tubes on a FOWL tank.
 
The tank is a 25 gallon.

With 60 watts of NO tubes, will I get coraline alge to grow?

How much difference in term of light output from a 65W CP light vs. three 20w NO tubes?


Thanks
 
if i recall PC's are almost 50% more effcient than NO bulbs..
a 55w is comprable to a 110vho.
i could be totally wrong but i think thats why PC's were such a hit back in the day.
 
fenner says 2-3 times more.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=429465&highlight=pc+output

everyone has an opinion.
either way its usable PAR and area coverage you care about rather than watts. a 25 with 55w of PC will grow plenty of coraline. coraline thrives in lower light applications.

if you have 60w setup....run it. as Sanjay joshi said " the best lighting is the setup that works for your tank"
some corals require higher light thus a rule to apply higher wattage but i have kept a 180 lps/softie for ~6 months on Normal Output lighting. it was 8 x 36" NO coralife bulbs.
 
My 55g mostly FOWLR tank has tons of corraline growing on it, and I have 4 48" 40W NO lamps on it. (one actinic) (total 160W)

The zoos and shrooms do ok, although they don't grow very fast.
 
I have 80w 9.2k NO over a 75g w/a 6" sand bed w/corraline growing.
Bright enough for me, mushrooms, GSP, and BTA's
 
Hi:

I checked my PC light, it is a 65w 50/50, brand new aqualight from Corallife.But I feel that the tank is not brighter than with three 20w NO tubes on it. It feels actually dimmer. Do I have a defected PC lamp?

Thanks
 
For Scuba Dave:

80w of NO light over 75 gallon and BTA is OK? Wao, that is some good news. I always want a BTA for my clown but worry about my light.

Thanks
 
Yes, I do feed them tidbits almost every day.
I had the same BTA under the same light (before he split into 2) over a year ago & he was getting smaller, even with feeding. So I added 65w PC light, then upgraded to 250w MH when I went reef.
Now he (they) is basically under the same exact light & bulbs & doing fine. Actually seems to be doing better then when they were in the 55g w/dual 175w MH & 80w NO actinic
 
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