Lighting question

[jc130b]

I have a Coraife compact fluorescent lighting which has 2 65w 10,000k and 2 65w actinic bulbs. The fixture is 48" long. When looking at corals and stuff to buy they say the required lighting is low, moderate or high. Which would this light be considered at low, moderate? The tank depth is 24" deep.
Thanks

 

[Scooterman]

I would say Low to moderate, things to remember is the power these lamps put out have a lifespan & will drop off quickly, especially CF. You can get corals that will do well there, you may not want to keep then in the lower portion of your tank, it will be a trial & error type thing when locating them for the best light. Keep your lamps replaced about at 6 months, learn which corals will do well in this light as you get them you can observe & see how they fair different distances in the tank.

 

[Faciosity]

Definately low to moderate. I had a coralife 2x 65 pc fixture over a 20 long for quite a while with great success (even kept a few sps alive for quite a while, but they eventually browned out and then slowly died), but after 6 months on the bulbs, things started going down hill real quick. And with the high price of the bulbs, I decided to go for the t5s. Now I am much happier. I got some of the best growth and color ever out of my zoanthids and ricordia under the pcs though.

 

[pokapahu]

Ditto - I've had years of success growing LPS, zoo's and 'shrooms with the exact same setup, but they need to be replaced every 6 months. My Xenia loved them so much I was giving them away to make space.

 

[Crack31]

I had that setup on a 55 gal tank.

I was able to keep orange and purple rim monitpora caps

with good growth rates. I had montipora digitata that did not grow as fast.

I kept all the SPS high in the tank.

 

[jc130b]

Thank you for the info.