Scottmac
Active Member
Hello,
I purchased my first marine tank earlier this year (30 USG), my experience before that was all freshwater, so I never had to worry much about lighting. The tank I purchased came with an LED hood light, specs: 12V, 27W, 12964 lux, 990Kelvin. The issue is that its half white, half blue, so does not provide much of a spectrum. It only allows 4 white settings and 2 blue settings, so I don't have the ability to amend the spectrum to fully highlight corals or fish.
The corals I want to grow are all softies - Xenia, Zoa, Kenya Tree, Toadstoods and mushrooms. I am right to assume these types don't need strong lighting?
Without buying a whole new light system (I can't afford it) would it make any difference if I supplement my existing light by adding a small clip on light that would provide more spectrum with purple and UV?
Also I have noticed that in the specs, they total up the amount of LED wattage to give a total which is quite sneaky as I would not choose to have the LEDs all on all the time, the individual LED wattage is what matters. For example a 72 wattage light sounds great, until you realise there are 24 LEDs, only about a third of which you would want on at a time, and each are 3w power (3x24=72)
Any help/suggestions?
Thanks
Scott
I purchased my first marine tank earlier this year (30 USG), my experience before that was all freshwater, so I never had to worry much about lighting. The tank I purchased came with an LED hood light, specs: 12V, 27W, 12964 lux, 990Kelvin. The issue is that its half white, half blue, so does not provide much of a spectrum. It only allows 4 white settings and 2 blue settings, so I don't have the ability to amend the spectrum to fully highlight corals or fish.
The corals I want to grow are all softies - Xenia, Zoa, Kenya Tree, Toadstoods and mushrooms. I am right to assume these types don't need strong lighting?
Without buying a whole new light system (I can't afford it) would it make any difference if I supplement my existing light by adding a small clip on light that would provide more spectrum with purple and UV?
Also I have noticed that in the specs, they total up the amount of LED wattage to give a total which is quite sneaky as I would not choose to have the LEDs all on all the time, the individual LED wattage is what matters. For example a 72 wattage light sounds great, until you realise there are 24 LEDs, only about a third of which you would want on at a time, and each are 3w power (3x24=72)
Any help/suggestions?
Thanks
Scott
