Posted: 06 Aug 2004 at 1:53pm | IP Logged

recently my girlfriend and i decided to get into reefing.  so we decided we were going to get into buying the correct lights.  seems simple enough right?  wrong, my girlfriend likes the shimmer effect.  we were told power compacts would produce this effect.  well, they lied.  so now, someone tells me that metal halides will produce this effect.  i am not sure, and i do not want to purchase these lights if i have to buy a thousand dollar chiller.  right now we have a corallife power compact system with 130 watts of total power.  is this enough to maintain corals?  it does not seem to light up the tank well.  in addition, if we do go with a metal halide system, can anyone recommend some that aren't gastronomically priced, and is it ok to keep with the pcs?  any help is appreciated.

thanks.

Posted: 06 Aug 2004 at 5:28pm | IP Logged

It sounds like the lighting that you have enough light to keep some simple soft corals such as mushrooms, leathers, and polyps.  To get the shimmer effect, you need a single "point" source of light.  Hence a metal halide, not a stretched out flourescent light.  Depending on how you have you current fixture, you could incorporate a metal halide (probably and HQI) or 2 into the fixture you already have.  As far as economy, if you are looking for something cheap, get a fresh water tank.  I could set up a 200 gallon freshwater tank for the money I have in my 7 gallon reef.  You may need a chiller with the metal halide bulbs, but it really depends on how you have it all set up.  Maybe you could post some pics of your setup to give us all a better idea of which way to go.

BTW, welcome to our forum!

Posted: 06 Aug 2004 at 11:46pm | IP Logged

ok well first off welcome to teh fourm!

secondly i manage a "LFS" and can tell you in this hobby MOST fish stores will lie to you but not allways. so shop around if you can.

i sell the same lights you have all day long and its plenty enough to keep almost every soft coral under the sun and most any LPS (large polyped stony) coral. if your not certain about it just place the coral up high and gradualy move it down until you are comfortable with it.

kyroguy is right if you want the shimmer effect you must have a single "point" source of light or a point source type of lighting = metal halides or LEDs but LEDs are probaly not going to do the trick. the reason this is metal halides emit all there energy from a single spot instead of using it through an entire range like a tube. the light is not so much more as in wattage but in intensity. corals dont need watts corals need intensity. so next time someone tells you that this or that amount of light or watts per gallon is enough to keep a certain coral look at them like they are a retard.

MH lighting does no allways need a chiller and for the size aquarium you have and amount of light over it you would be spending more like 300-500 on a chiller not 1000+. keep the room cool (ambient air tempature) and your aquarium should stay cool.

now if the LFS lied to you about the lighting im sure they lied to you about other stuff so if you want to go through an equipment list with me of whats on your aquarium feel free to. also i will tell you if you are paying too much.

Posted: 07 Aug 2004 at 5:35pm | IP Logged

the_anti_honda wrote: corals dont need watts corals need intensity. so next time someone tells you that this or that amount of light or watts per gallon is enough to keep a certain coral look at them like they are a retard.

Classic pimp moment.

Posted: 08 Aug 2004 at 11:51am | IP Logged

ok you guys thanks for the info.  i will post a pic tonight.  but what i have right now is the corallife lighting system,an aquarium systems skimmer rated for a 100 gallon, and a penplax cascade canister filter rated for a 75 gallon.  it is a 29 gallon and right now i have some daisy polyps, mushrooms, some stony colonies i pulled out of the ocean, a bubble tip anemone, sebae clownfish, 1 blue regal tang, 1 damsel, 2 urchins, 1 brittle star, 1 sand shifting star, several hermits, both large and small, a few snails, and some live rock.  thats about it.  im looking to get some more coral, but i really dont know what to get yet.  any info is appreciated.  also if you guys have any comments about the equipment, any help is appreciated as well.  thanks.

aaron

Posted: 09 Aug 2004 at 12:51am | IP Logged

my only suggestion right now is take the tang out please!

what kind of stonies did you pull out? post pics im curious to see.

and watch out some of those urchins will knock stuff over.

Posted: 26 Oct 2005 at 8:09pm | IP Logged

the_aunti_ honda,

     i shawn a small hallogen light at the back of my eclipse six aquarium. i swear the light in the tank doubled. is that the intense light you are talking about that corals need. my tank has a 8 watt flourecent tube. i am going to put a small full spectrum flourecent desk lamp behind my tank. what do you think?

also there won"t be any heat  problems in the water.