When establishing a salt water aquarium there is one variable that is quite commonly forgotten. Lighting! You’ll want to see your fish and reef life at any point during the day or night, so having a correct lighting system is crucial. Here are a few of the do’s and don’ts of salt water aquarium lighting.
- DO understand the “Watts Per Gallon Rule.” This rule simply states that for every gallon of water that you have in your salt water fish tank, you should have between 3 and 5 watts of light. Thus, if you have a 20 gallon tank, you are going to want 60-100 watts at all times.
- DO NOT assume that all lighting tubes offer the same amount of wattage. Lights, especially fluorescent lights, come in a wide range of strengths. This strength is influenced heavily by the amount of wattage that the light emits. NO, or Normal Output, lights will have a lower wattage than VHO (Very High Output) lighting tubes. When purchasing lighting tubes remember the Watts Per Gallon Rule and check out the wattage on each tube.
- DO NOT base your lighting choice on colors described on lighting tube packages. Packages labeled warm white or cool white have nothing to do with the amount of Kelvins (wattage) put out by the light. By not paying attention you could effectively fry everything in your tank (that would NOT be good)!
- DO realize that the lower wattage put out by a light will affect the color of light emitted. The lower the amount of wattage (Ks) the more yellow the light will be. Thus, the higher amount of wattage your lights have, the brighter white they will be.
And above all else, remember that you MUST ABSOLUTELY, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, use black lights in your salt water aquarium. While these lights may produce a funky, glowing spectrum of light, they also produce crazy high amounts of ultraviolet rays, which are super bad for any fish tank.
There you have it! A few simple ideas about how to properly light your salt water aquarium. Have any advice? Any tips of your own? Well, post a comment and we can delve deeper into the light…