According to a lot of posts on Reef Central yes. Keeping Calcium and Alkalinity up and balanced with Magnesium will insure excellent growth too. Heavy Skimming and feeding works.
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"Earth, our Water Planet, is the only planet in our solar system to be endowed with appreciable quantities of liquid water. Life, born in the water, must be at least as rare as water in the Universe, and as such must be revered, under any of it's forms, as a Miracle."
The higher wattage your bulb and ballast are, the more power you draw. An example; a 70 watt MH is lower than a 96 watt PC. A fixture with Four 96 watt PC Bulbs is lower than a single 400 watt MH fixture.
__________________
"Earth, our Water Planet, is the only planet in our solar system to be endowed with appreciable quantities of liquid water. Life, born in the water, must be at least as rare as water in the Universe, and as such must be revered, under any of it's forms, as a Miracle."
I would think that 250 watts with a good reflector (Lumenarc or Lumenmax) would do the job.
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"Earth, our Water Planet, is the only planet in our solar system to be endowed with appreciable quantities of liquid water. Life, born in the water, must be at least as rare as water in the Universe, and as such must be revered, under any of it's forms, as a Miracle."
Ok how many watts of metal halide for a 30 gallon tank standard demsions. I want to be able to keep anything so if i go to a store. My mom likes to pick out alot of stuff which has me having alot of fish and she wants me to start a coral tank in the living room.
I found this on RC in the SPS Forum, I hope this helps.....
10K bulbs are great for growth, but are terrible for color. The best color temps for a good mix of growth and color are the 14K and 15K, if you are going for colors that really pop and enhance the fluorescence you would want to use 20K bulbs. Same for actinics, if you want color that pops then you would want a mix of 420nm and 460nm actinics, the 50/50 and daylight bulbs add more white light in the 10K - 12K range. It all really depends on personal preference and what corals you are keeping. Another thing to consider is that the type and brand of ballast also makes a huge difference in the actual color temp produced. There are a tn of threads on here to learn about Halide lighting, do a search for Sanjay and Lighting.
-- Edited by Monty at 08:12, 2009-01-27
__________________
"Earth, our Water Planet, is the only planet in our solar system to be endowed with appreciable quantities of liquid water. Life, born in the water, must be at least as rare as water in the Universe, and as such must be revered, under any of it's forms, as a Miracle."
I went to Reef Central and found this Article on Clams:
Tridacnid Lighting Requirements:
Tridacna Crocea
These clams require the most light of the Tridacna family. They occur in the wild mostly in very clear waters less than 15 feet in depth. (6 meters according to J.F.) The minimum recommended lighting requirement for a healthy Crocea is under a 150 watt metal halide of a reliable 14k bulb at a maximum depth of 20 inches, preferably less. To be on the safer side, a 10k bulb is recommended, and is closer to the "true" color of natural sunlight. I have seen some Croceas under 70 watts of halide, but these are normally placed high up in the tank. 70 watt bulbs are also considered by some as the least developed bulb, therefore being more inefficient in terms of their output compared to their 150 watt counter parts. 150 watts of (14k) metal halides would be the minimum safe amount of lighting. They will do even better under a 250 watt or 400 watt metal halide. If you are using 250 watts and above, you can place the Crocea even deeper in your tank, or even use 20k bulbs. If using T-5s, make sure the bulbs have individual parabolic reflectors on them, and the clam is placed at the upper half of your tank to be safe. Power Compacts will in a lot of cases NOT be adequate for Croceas.
In the case of T-5 lighting, remember only the 10k bulbs produce enough photo energy for PAR on clams, and the actinics produce little to no PAR depending on color temperature. It is also noted that the longer the bulbs are, the more penetrating power they carry. Thus a Crocea should be fine in a 20 inch depth under a 36 inch fixture. Having a Crocea in a 20 inch depth under a 24 inch fixture raises doubts, as most 24 inch fixtures only have 4 T-5 bulbs under them, with 2 of them usually carrying heavy actinics or some shade of high color temperature bulbs. In this case a retrofit is recommended to be able to cram in more lower temperature bulbs.
Tridacna Maxima
These clams require almost as much light as Croceas if not as much. In the wild they have a maximum depth of occurrence slightly deeper than Croceas, but are again mostly found in very clean and shallow waters. The best bet is to place them in the same lighting conditions as you would light a Crocea. The safe amount of lighting would be under a 100 watt metal halide if they existed, so Im going to say 150 watt 14k metal halide under 20 inches or less as well.
Tridacna Squamosa
These clams are much more forgiving in terms of light than the upper two tridacna species. Assuming they are not placed in a nano due to the size they can reach, they will be happy under metal halides of some sort, but will suffice with vhos, or even power compact lighting. There is no exact number for the wattage of the bulbs, but the safe amount of lighting would be anything above 100 watts of compact fluorescents in depths of less than 20 inches provided they are directly under the bulbs. T-5s are recommended over your regular power compact lighting, and a Squamosa will soak up Metal Halide lighting very happily.
Tridacna Gigas
Can suffice with even less amount of light compared to the Squamosa. They can thrive under most pc /vho combination, but again will be happier with lighting closer to that of its natural environment. Gigas can be found at depths up to 20 meters (J.F.) but some of the most successful aquarists have them under some type of metal halide lighting system and have recorded tremendous growth.
Tridacna Deresa
These clams are probably the most forgiving in terms of light than the rest of the mentioned clams. Their maximum depth of occurrence is about 25 meters (J.F.), but like the Gigas, they will be much happier with the lighting requirement given to Squamosas.
Exceptions to the Rule
Many people claim that Croceas and Maximas can survive under power compact lighting. These cases are far and few between, but there are certain individuals that are able to tolerate lower lightings, at which most of their counterparts would not be able to survive. Nevertheless, you should not take the risk and hope to get lucky, it is better to be prepared to give them what they will surely thrive in. It is always good to provide at least enough light of the given species to thrive in, and NOT the bare minimum you think you can get by with. Plus, it is the least we can do for our animal, as well as our responsibility as hobbyist.
Light Acclimation
There is no artificial lighting stronger than the great ball of fire in our sky, so all clams can adjust to your lighting provided they are given proper acclimation. This is especially important to prevent light shock, and gives time for the natural population of the clams zooxanthellae to adapt to their new habitat and photo conditions. Acclimation can easily be done using egg crate screening, or other materials that cut/diffuse lighting intensity. Remember, switching from fluorescents to metal halides is a big change, and so is switching from 150 watts to 250 watts.
Bulb Life
Fluorescent light bulbs need to be changed about every 10 months as they lose their intensity from old age. For metal halides, people have reported that 20ks lose their intensity at 6 months, 14ks around 8-10 months, and 10ks almost one year. I have not seen solid evidence in regards to this matter, but personally change my 14ks every 10 months.
I do not know the origin of the pictures as they were saved in my computer so I cannot credit them appropriately. The sole purpose of this thread is for the benefit of everyone, so please understand I hope this thread has been helpful to all of you.
__________________ Jin "Reef Central"
__________________
"Earth, our Water Planet, is the only planet in our solar system to be endowed with appreciable quantities of liquid water. Life, born in the water, must be at least as rare as water in the Universe, and as such must be revered, under any of it's forms, as a Miracle."
do the corals like the 20k better or 14k i really would like to have a clam and i see al these cool rimless tanks that look awesome with sps and clams and blueish lighting.
20K is more blue than the crisp blue/White light of a 14K.
__________________
"Earth, our Water Planet, is the only planet in our solar system to be endowed with appreciable quantities of liquid water. Life, born in the water, must be at least as rare as water in the Universe, and as such must be revered, under any of it's forms, as a Miracle."
Metal Halides presently give the best results, T5's run a very close second. There's advancements being made with LED's grouped into Fixtures. These are showing promise.
__________________
"Earth, our Water Planet, is the only planet in our solar system to be endowed with appreciable quantities of liquid water. Life, born in the water, must be at least as rare as water in the Universe, and as such must be revered, under any of it's forms, as a Miracle."
This is a very good article Matt, Everyone should read and re read it.
__________________
"Earth, our Water Planet, is the only planet in our solar system to be endowed with appreciable quantities of liquid water. Life, born in the water, must be at least as rare as water in the Universe, and as such must be revered, under any of it's forms, as a Miracle."
Lighting over our reef is one of the most impotant things we should look at when doing a reef tank or adding or upgrading our lighting. The main importance of having the right light is coral uses light for photosynthesis . Yes it still is an animal but food is not its ownly source for growth and color. I think most of you know me my name is Matt. I have been doing allot of work with metal halide lighting over the years and have seen many results using different halide bulbs. Most of the information I have learned about lighting has been from the results of Dr. Sanjay Joshi of Penn State. He is responseable for the modern usage of lighting over a reef tank(Thank you Sanjay!).
Halide bulbs come in SE(single Ended) or DE(double ended) with rages from 6500k to 20000k. Yes other colors exist but we focus on the kelvin for the use over an aquarium not in lighting our local Wal-Mart. (I know many of you may of you more advanced hobbyist might be bored by this but keep readind it gets better.) I will not go in to the scientific terms if you want that go here: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/s/b/sbj4/aquarium/articles/MetalHalideLamps1.htm I will be explaining things in a more simple format.
REMEMBER WATTAGE per GALLON IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO CONCENTRATE ON IT IS A VERY ACCURATE WAY TO DETERMINE YOU AQUARIM NEEDS!!!
You need to look at a lamps light spectrum at a given depth of water. The main concern in what PAR you lamp will produce. I will send you to a link to easily find your lamps par in a minute. PAR=Photosynthetic Usable Light PPFD=Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density(this is your par) CCT= Correlated Color Temperature(less numbers are more yellow high numbers are more blue) Remember the higher the PAR of the lamp the better. Now for the fun stuff. Lets use this link for referance= http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/selectperformancedata.php Ok I just found a bulb and wated to see its performance so I go to the chart and type th appropriate info in and bam there it is. Here is an example. I found a bulb people had been talking about and wanted to see its performance with my ballast. So I go to the chart and input my info as such. The bulb is called a aquaconnect 250 14k Lamp Watts= 250 as this is a 250 watt bulb Lamp Manufacturer=Aquconnect Lamp Type=Single Ended Lamp Name= Aquaconnect 250w 14000k se1 Ballast= PFO 250w HQI (M80) Shielded=N (this refers to weather you have a glass shield on your reflector) Then I press search and their is all the info I need The PPFD(PAR) is 109 (a very good par by the way) A good par is one that is usually over 75 and up) again the higher the better The CCT was around 11k ( that meant that on my confiuration my bulb was giving me a 11k appearance which means it will have a nice white color with a little blue) Lets try something different. Lets put in a different ballast and see some results. I also have a Ice Cap 250 watt electronic ballest and wated to see if this has any better or worse results than my magnetic PFO. I do this and my results are PAR= 83 (not to good compaired to the 109 with the pfo) CCT=0 ( that meant I am going to show allot more blue with this configuation as the spectrum was not read because it went past the given 14k to a more blue color) The importance here is that ballast bulb configuration is essential to the output of the bulb. A magnetic ballest will usually give better results on a bulb but at a significant energy cost over an electronic ballest. A HQI ballast will drive both SE bulbs and DE bulbs A standerd ballast (usually M58) will only drive SE bulbs Another thing to remember is the higher the kelvin bulb i.e. 14k-20k will usually have less par than a lower kelvin bulb i.e. 6500k - 10k
I hope this thread has been helpful to all of you.
