Do I need better lights?

[AndrewM]

Hello,

First post here, so hello :smile:

I have a 20G tall reef and it's been running for a few months now and my coral does just fine, but I often wonder if I should upgrade my lights. I do not have any extravagant lighting system right now and it's pretty basic.

I have a PC fixture with 2x 36W bulbs (72 total) 1x 10k and 1x Acintic, both run 8 hours on and 16 off.

I do not have any high light corals in the tank as of right now but would I get better color off my colors under different lights? If so; What fixture and light schedule would you guys recommend?

Thanks!

 

[tyler1503]

I'd go a 4 bulb T5 on a tank like that. Relatively cheap and can get a good bulb combo.
How tall is the tank?

 

[tyler1503]

Oh, and what corals do you have?
And what corals do you want in the future?

 

[EW_Fish]

Like Tyler said I would go with 4 bulb 24w fixture. I run my lights at 10 hours. I'm guessing you have soft corals?

 

[AndrewM]

I'd go a 4 bulb T5 on a tank like that. Relatively cheap and can get a good bulb combo.
How tall is the tank?

16" tall.

Oh, and what corals do you have?
And what corals do you want in the future?

This is pretty much a test run to me to test the waters, I've been a FW hobbyist for many years and decided to step up to SW recently and get my feet wet (so to speak). I have some pretty basic corals at the moment, a few leathers, variety of mushrooms, zoas, kenya trees and a Yuma Ricordea that someone sent me as a free frag to see if I could get it to grow (seems to be doing just fine thus far). As far as future corals, I'm not sure at the moment. I started out with pretty basic corals to see how this would turn out for me and so far it's been doing quite well but I prefer to take it slow and easy so I doubt I'll move into anything difficult anytime soon.

My intent is to convert my 55 so SW in the future if this goes well for me, right now I'm just learning the ins and outs.

 

[h20poloman2]

agree with the previous posters on a 4 bulb T5 fixture. I've used PC's, halides, T5's and LED's over the years. For cost, color combination and relatively low heat...a 4 bulb T5 fixture give you an option to support any type of coral in a 20g tank

 

[JMSKI333]

What kind of corals do you keep? If you you are doing softies and some LPS then what you have is just fine. Especially is everything is happy. If you want to move up to SPS or an LPS dominant tank then an upgrade may be in order.

Honestly though, if what you have now is working and you have great color, then why upgrade? A lot of old school reefers still run PC lighting with great success.

On the other hand, if you have the money and you are like me and just love new stuff, then go for it lol.

 

[AndrewM]

Thanks everyone, so it's quite apparently that I should invest in a 4 bulb fixture. I've found a few on ebay; Anyone want to chime in on what they would recommend?

24'' Aquarium Light T5 HO 4X 24 Watt Reef Fish Tank Lights w Bulbs New | eBay24" Aquarium T5 HO Light 24W x4 Reef Coral Fish LED w Timer Hood Fixture CE New | eBay

How would you recommend acclimating my corals to the new lighting, or would it even be necessary with the change over to one of the above fixtures?
[URL="http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-Aquarium-T5-HO-Light-24W-x4-Reef-Coral-Fish-LED-w-Timer-Hood-Fixture-CE-NEW-/221231247482?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item338268f07a"]
[/URL]

 

[EW_Fish]

It will be more light so acclimating may be needed.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Put your corals on the bottom of the tank to start with, and move them up slightly every week. That light will do ya nicely. But might I suggest you only get one white lamp, and 2 blues and one true actinic. Now that color you will like.

 

[AndrewM]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations! I'll do some more looking around and see what I can find, right now the PC lights do their job so it may be a little while before I upgrade them. I'd rather find the "right" fixture than rush into something, we all know how rushing works out in this hobby anyways. :fencing:

 

[Reefing Madness]

Just keep an eye on the PC, the light shifts on those quickly, should change em out every 6-9 months.

 

[tyler1503]

It just dawned on me. You said your wanting to upgrade to a 55 didn't you?
Is that a plan for in a couple of months or a couple of years or are you not sure? If it's sometime soon I doubt you would want to upgrade the lighting on the 20 then have to upgrade a second time for the 55.
Just a thought

 

[AndrewM]

It just dawned on me. You said your wanting to upgrade to a 55 didn't you?
Is that a plan for in a couple of months or a couple of years or are you not sure? If it's sometime soon I doubt you would want to upgrade the lighting on the 20 then have to upgrade a second time for the 55.
Just a thought

I'm not quite sure at this point. I'm honestly wanting to get more experience in the field before I go dropping anything into a large tank as to avoid a huge loss if something goes wrong, which of course, anything can happen either way.

If the PC lights will last for now, you're right. It might be worth it to just keep what I have and stick with the soft corals until it's time to upgrade to my larger tank. I suppose time will tell I guess.

Thanks again everyone! Very friendly folks over here.

 

[JMSKI333]

IMO I would look at a 40B or a 75g over a 55g. 55's don't really have the dimensions for a reef. Not deep enough for how long they are which gives you a challenge for rock scape and coral placement.

If you are upgrading in the near future, then I would keep what you have and then go all out on the new tank.

 

[AndrewM]

For what it's worth, after the helpful advice from the people in this thread and ReefingMadness via private message, I finally decided on which fixture to purchase and which bulbs to run in it.

24" Aquarium T5 HO Light 96W LED Reef Fish Coral w Timer CE | eBay

Thanks again everyone for the advice.

 

[Reefing Madness]