Lighting 101
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Equipment
Forum Description: This is the place to ask question about reef equipment.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1314
Printed Date: July 01 2026 at 2:15pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Lighting 101
Posted By: Spuma
Subject: Lighting 101
Date Posted: November 22 2003 at 2:35am
|
Kay... I've been doing some reading trying to see if I can understand a little bit more about the topic. Please correct me if any of my comments are off the wall... PC - Power Compact (low temp, low light) VHO - Very High Output (med temp, med light) MH - Metal Halide (high temp, high light) MH is required for reef tanks to keep certain types of coral. The ballast is the part that is attached to the hood and holds the bulbs... So what makes up a good ballast and can you get a balast that will be compatible with a MH bulb, but can also hold a PC bulb? What wattage is recommended? |
Replies:
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 22 2003 at 8:12am
|
I'll put in my 2 cents and hopefully others can point out where my opinion was incorrectly stated as fact.
PC or CF (compact fluorescent) is not low light. It should be considered med-high light for it can also grow sps(small polyp stony) coral, the most light demanding coral! Unfortunately the general public has this notion that wattage equals intensity. Watts are the measure of how many volts and amps are used by the light, in other words, power consumption! What we might do is classify these lights by their lumens, in other words how much light energy is emitted! In addition we need to be thinking of the appearance of the light to the actual organism. If I remember correctly this has been called PAR (Photsynthetic Activated Response or something like that). PAR also considers the light spectrum as well. Coral do best with a certain spectrum of light depending on where they naturally grow in the watery depths. MH can provide the highest lumens from a single point of light which most closely resembles the sun. This seems to be what sps and clams do best with because they come from the shallow depths where the sun is visible as a point of light. VHO (Very High Output Fluorescent) and the newer CF/PC (Power Compact Fluorescent), in sufficient quantity, can provide the same lumens as MH but the emmitted light is spread over the entire surface of the tubes. This changes the way the light looks to a coral. As light travels through the ocean water it diffuses. This effect is how coral perceive fluorescent light, as though they are 10 feet or deeper receiving diffused light. Most coral are in this deeper category, BTW. The ballasts for all lights are hot and are best kept out where the heat can dissipate away from the tank water. Most people place the ballast outside the stand either on the back or sometimes on top of or on the back of the hood. The MH lamp itself aside from providing a single bright point of light also emits a lot of heat. That's why MH lighting always includes fans to cool the inside of the hood. Hoods are even optional with some MH setups. Well I've said enough. Here are 4000 more words that an avid hobbyist will (or should) understand. 
These are courtesy of a Jacques Cousteau book, I can't remember it's name. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
|
Posted By: crazy-sps
Date Posted: November 22 2003 at 10:51am
|
IMO: I agree with Mark that all of the above could grow sps. But you would need a lot NO bulbs to equal the watts or lumens of a Metal Halide. Plus, since the light is spread out over a tube on the other types, you would need to squeeze the bulbs very close to try to equal the intensity from a Metal Halide. Maybe someone who has a lumen meter could measure the bulbs and post it here for us. |
Posted By: crazy-sps
Date Posted: November 22 2003 at 10:56am
| I forgot to write about Kelvin temps or spectrums of bulbs. The higher the Kelvin rating, the bluer the bulb. Coral that grows close to the surface, like sps, like yellower bulbs, like 6500K or 10000K bulbs, because the sun light is still yellow at the surface, as Mark's pictures show. BTW, those are great picures Mark. Every LFS should have them on a poster to show customers what different temps of light do. Thank goodness dive gear has improved since those pictures were taken. |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: November 22 2003 at 11:40am
|
Lumen rating are done by bulb manufactures, although it would be interesting to do this ourselves too. Averages (from the top of my head... I reserve the right to "update" this post if I'm off Future trends might indicate T5 bulbs taking market share from T12 VHOs. It's still hard to beat the 20,000 lumen in such a small package with the MH. ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
)Posted By: crazy-sps
Date Posted: November 22 2003 at 6:09pm
| Jon, is the T-5 that you mention above the European HO bulb? I thought that the common T-5 around here were only 36 watts for a 48" bulb. I didn't think that the European T-5's had made it over here yet. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: November 22 2003 at 10:51pm
That is not the ballast, that is just the socket for bulbs, the ballast is what runs the bulbs. http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PA&Category_Code=Lighting - http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen= CTGY&Store_Code=PA&Category_Code=Lighting This site might also be of some help. -Cody |
Spuma wrote:Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: November 22 2003 at 10:56pm
|
Yup, the high output. You can buy then on line at a few places. Aquatica sells T5 bulbs too, but I don't know if they are high output or not. The actinic I saw at Aquatica looked like the "blue" PC bulbs. Didn't look as good as vho actinics at least to my eyes. I came across a place on line that sells both "blue" and what they call "true actinic" T5 bulbs, so there must be both floating around. The Home Depot here in town uses T5 bulbs rather then HID lights for the whole store. They're very bright and it looks like they fit about 8 bulbs in a fixture that normally would only fit 4 T12s. ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: November 23 2003 at 6:07pm
|
Are you saying that the corals we get are in deep water, or that they are simply deeper than 10 feet? I'm confused on this one. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: November 23 2003 at 6:44pm
|
interesting thread on RC about T5s ... http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239653 -
|
Posted By: Sarnack
Date Posted: November 23 2003 at 11:34pm
|
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-08/dw/index.htm
good starter article... |
Posted By: rstruhs
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 12:42am
|
Does anyone know how the Halogen lamps compare to metal halide? I am not familiar enough with MH or Halogen to know what the wavelengths of each are. Does MH produce light in all wavelengths like the sun or is it more specific? |
Posted By: crazy-sps
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 7:58am
| You can get different color temps with MH from 6700K to 20000K. I do not believe that Halogen offers different color temps, but I could be mistaken. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 11:15am
|
Halogen are too intense in the "UV2" wavelength which will burn quickly. Not recommended without a filter, plus they are so yellow, most people don't like the color. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: Jake Pehrson
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 12:00pm
|
As far as I know these is no local company that sells the T-5 HO bulbs. All the T-5s available locally are NO (at least I think so). ------------- Jake Pehrson Murray http://coralplanet.com" rel="nofollow - coralplanet.com http://utahbeeranch.com" rel="nofollow - :) |
Posted By: Crazy Tarzan
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 12:24pm
| when I inquired at aquatica they said they had two versions, one a german one (lots of $$$$) and the other was a 20 or 25 watt chinese version. Would take a lot of those little 20's to get enough light, and they are one piece--so you can't really mount a reflector behind them. I have mh and actinic pc's. Seems to work good for me. |
Posted By: peregrinus
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 4:34pm
|
this is just something i was thinking about. what about the HID lights that are on the new cars? anyone have any info on these? they seen to be very brite and blue.
|
Posted By: crazy-sps
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 5:04pm
|
Peregrinus, those are so expensive!! I friend of mine had an Acura Legend and put HID headlights in it for about $800. I would assume that those would be very expensive to get for tanks. But maybe someone will figure it out for cheap. |
Posted By: peregrinus
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 5:36pm
|
yeah thats what i thought. it was just a crazy thought.. lol
|
Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: November 24 2003 at 6:07pm
| This tank http://www.utahreefs.com/heil.html - http://www.utahreefs.com/heil.html was lit with 2 150 watt halogen and 2 40 actinic fluorescents. The gallery is outdated, since these pics are several years old. Anyway, Mark is right - the halogens are very yellow. I ran them without any type of filter. I called GE once and they indicated the color temp was around 3500 Kelvin. Not ideal - but I was able to keep soft corals and even a LT anemone. (that is still very happy in my new tank). |
Posted By: crazy-sps
Date Posted: November 28 2003 at 9:46pm
|
Peregrinus - "crazy thought" I just got it. hehe... What does your name stand for? |
Posted By: peregrinus
Date Posted: November 29 2003 at 7:22am
its latin for wanderer. 
|
Posted By: crazy-sps
Date Posted: November 29 2003 at 8:51am
| do you read and speak Latin fluently? |