I bagged me a Damsel!

[Drumachine09]

Well, i went to the LFS and got me a damsel fish. Its a yellow tailed one, and its kinda shy. It scared the crap out of me, because i saw him go in the tank, but i couldnt find the little guy for the life of me. I even checked the floor. But i found him behind the new plant i put in, that rascal. The tank is looking really nice and i will post some pics after some of the cloudyness goes away.

[Chrona]

Cool! Is your avatar him (or her?)

[Drumachine09]

No, i just googled yellow-tailed damselfish.

I dont know how to sex the little bugger either.

[Drumachine09]

And i wish i had that decent of a camera too!


I wish.....I wish.... for alot of junk. Oh well.

[cocoa_pleco]

My salt tanks clear and all the fish and anenomes are happy. The only things that arent happy are my arms that have salt damage.

[Drumachine09]

How many watts are you running cocoa?

[Chrona]

You getting a lighting fixture for that mushroom coral soon?

Try one of these fixtures with a 50/50 bulb

http://www.ahsupply.com/twox.htm

As a side note, the owner of one of my LFS installed several AH 96w setups in his personal saltwater store show tanks and by god, these reflectors are BLINDING!

[Drumachine09]

Well, the dude said that i would need AT LEAST 50 friggen watts in my ten to grow a small (1"-2") mushroom. Is this true? or was he trying to make me buy some stuff.

[Chrona]

Well, the dude said that i would need AT LEAST 50 friggen watts in my ten to grow a small (1"-2") mushroom. Is this true? or was he trying to make me buy some stuff.

Which dude? Fish_whisperer or the guy at your LFS? I'm no expert on reefs, but 5w/gallon minimum sounds about right. 10g freshwater planted tanks are really supposed to have like 25-30 watts of light for good growth, because the watt/gallon rule breaks down with smaller tanks and I know reef tanks require like roughly 2x as much light. There is a minimum light intensity required for photosynthesis, ie 1x 100watt bulb is not the same thing as 100x 1 watt bulbs. Of course, wattage is normally based on average flourescents. Compact fluorescents tend to be slightly more efficient, plus AH fixtures have slightly overdriven ballasts that squeeze out more light per watt, not to mention those ridiculous reflectors.

[Drumachine09]

Which dude? Fish_whisperer or the guy at your LFS? I'm no expert on reefs, but 5w/gallon sounds about right. 10g freshwater planted tanks are really supposed to have like 25-30 watts of light for good growth, because the watt/gallon rule breaks down with smaller tanks. There is a minimum light intensity required for photosynthesis, ie 1x 100watt bulb is not the same thing as 100x 1 watt bulbs.



the LFS dude. So i am running 15 watts with a homade aluminium foil reflector (not sure if it hurts or helps). It is a standard 10 gallon fixture. Is there a 50 watt bulb with (i think) 100,000 K for relitivley cheap?

Sorry bout all tha questions, i have never "grown" anything before.

[Chrona]

the LFS dude. So i am running 15 watts with a homade aluminium foil reflector (not sure if it hurts or helps). It is a standard 10 gallon fixture. Is there a 50 watt bulb with (i think) 100,000 K for relitivley cheap?

Sorry bout all tha questions, i have never "grown" anything before.

I tried the aluminum foil reflector as well. It didn't seem to do much other than heat up the bulb, because it's not flat enough to be a good reflector (ie it shoots the rays of light in every which direction, even if it does reflect more light than, say white plastic)

For a fixture, if you didn't want to go with the AH lighting, I have heard some good things about this. You definitely want to get a 50/50 bulb though, as corals need that actinic light.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=11418&N=2004+113345

Yes I know it's only 4w/gallon, but the next step up would be 8w/gallon and would cost over a hundred bucks

If you don't mind the fixture hanging over 2 inches on each side, then this is a better deal. Coralife's are nice, I have one on my tank and it looks pretty sweet ;)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9871&N=2004+113345

Thats 6.5 watts/gallon too. The actual bulb will only extend out 1/2 inch on each side.

The problem with reef tanks is that a DIY rig is tough. I did a cost-benefit comparison for Hobbs a while back where I compared pricing for a premade fixture and a DIY fixture, but that was for relatively low lighting for a planted tank (ie like 2-3 w/g). Your last option, is to use these:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9870&N=2004+113346

and build your own light array. However, these bulbs are inefficient as heck unless you also get a really nice reflector because you get so much restrike, so you would have to get a minimum of 6-7 to think about meeting 5w/g

This is why I chose to go planted tank and not saltwater :)

[Drumachine09]

So without retrofitting, ther is nothing that i can just slip in my current fixture that is more than 15 watts at 50/50?

[Chrona]

So without retrofitting, ther is nothing that i can just slip in my current fixture that is more than 15 watts at 50/50?

Nope, your ballast is most likely only rated to 15 watts. I read something about upgrading the ballast or using an overrated existing ballast with a higher wattage bulb, or ODNO (over drive normal output) but I'm fairly certain you'll get like 20-25 watts max and 25 watts may be a fire waiting to happen ;)

Er sorry, it may have been that it has to be an electronic ballast and not a magnetic ballast as is often the case, I forget which.

[Chrona]

Heres the link

I have a terrible memory

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-tank-faq/175-cheap-lighting-odno.html

Yes, you will need to buy an electronic ballast ~ 20-30 bucks

[Drumachine09]

If i used another light fixture, also 15 watts, so a total of 30 watts, would that be acceptable?

[Chrona]

If i used another light fixture, also 15 watts, so a total of 30 watts, would that be acceptable?

Meh, you can give it a try and see if the mushroom will grow, but I dunno to be honest. Remember that 2x 15 w bulbs is not the same thing as a 30w bulb in terms of intensity

[Drumachine09]

I also have a 23 watt sylvania compact flourecent. would it do squat?

[Chrona]

I also have a 23 watt sylvania compact flourecent. would it do squat?

Spiral shape that goes in a light bulb socket? Those are about 50% efficient, someone did a test with a PAR meter on that planted tank forum. It would help though, if you don't mind the top of your tank turning into a hodgepodge of light arrays ;)

Try to make a parabola shaped reflector for it with aluminum foil too. That should help a bit.

[Drumachine09]

So minimum im going to need 50 or so watts?

[Chrona]

So minimum im going to need 50 or so watts?

I don't know, just said it sounded about right for a minimum :)

[Drumachine09]

Also, i read the back of my light fixture, and it says 19 watts, but the bulb is only 15. Do they make a 19 watt?

[Chrona]

Also, i read the back of my light fixture, and it says 19 watts, but the bulb is only 15. Do they make a 19 watt?

Not that I know of, my light fixture said the same thing and I was looking for the same thing :)

To be honest, you are probably better just saving up for a nice fixture. Spend 5 bucks on a bulb here, 5 bucks there, and all the sudden 50 bucks is gone and you have a hodgepodge of stuff. Lighting tends to dime and nickel you out of money, so it's better to just put in the money for something you won't be tempted/obligated to replace down the road.

[Drumachine09]

Could i find bulbs to fit this fixture?

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@0483188788.1173846749@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdcaddkgkkhjifcgelceffdfgidgjn.0&MID=9876

[Chrona]

Er, you linked me to a general page.

[Drumachine09]

Hmmm i guess the link didnt work right, try typing shop light into the seach box. Its the farthest one on the right i think

[Chrona]

Hmmm i guess the link didnt work right, try typing shop light into the seach box. Its the farthest one on the right i think

Problem with that is t-12's have lower lumens/watt (compared to what you usually see on aquariums - t-8's or t-5's) Note that it specifies that it has a low power factor ballast, which is discussed in that ODNO article. Plus you still need to make a good reflector to utilize that light. Dunno man, you'd probably need 2 of those things to get the equivalent light of that coralife unit, and I don't know if they make actinic bulbs in t-12.

[Chrona]

I mean, not to keep shooting down all your ideas (as fun as it may be :wink2: ), but sometimes the best solution is to shell out the bucks and make a solid investment. Or just not keep corals for now, heh :)

I mean, who knows, I could be wrong, you could make it work with 2x 15 watt fixtures. The final decision is yours.

[Drumachine09]

AHHH. Im getting frustrated now. I think im going to hit the sack. If you think of anything that can help, let me know.

[Chrona]

AHHH. Im getting frustrated now. I think im going to hit the sack. If you think of anything that can help, let me know.

My idea was to get a second job :)

[Drumachine09]

My idea was to get a second job :)


Its not selling my body again, is it?

[cocoa_pleco]

sell your body to michael jackson. lol:hmm3grin2orange:

[Chrona]

Its not selling my body again, is it?

Of course not, you are to bake me cookies. I demand pics of the tank + damsel!

[Drumachine09]

The tank is totaly do-able. The damsel, might prove to be a chalenge. He moves alot, and is still a little skiddish, but ill give it a try, lemme finish eating though.

[Chrona]

Well?!?!

Done eating yet? :P

[Drumachine09]

I just took them, post them in a sec.....Patience is a virtue.....lol