hey all i am planning on getting corals for my s/w tank soon as i get a powerful enough light, i was just wondering if there is any lights that would work for a reef tank besides the expensive ones at the petstore?
diy lighting for reef tank?
- Thread starter morganj157
- Start date
yeh go to indutrial lighting websites. purchase LOWBAY lights. stick to 400watts or less. (preferably less). then go to your petstore and purchase a better bulb designed to grow corals like a 10,000 14000 20000 and 50000 k bulb. normally the higher the kelvin the better the growth but that is not always the case and varies per species.
You could build your own hood and fill it with daylight flurorescents.Those bulbs are rated at 6500K--which means they are adequate for most corals. Take a look at the GARF website and check out their lighting specs. They grow spectacular coral without expensive metal halides. I think the reason is: coral animals can photo-adapt, as long as you do it slowly, which means they'll thrive once they are acclimated to your lighting system (which should at least be the right color temp).