500 Watts

[vettesarebest]

Here's the question -

Do you guys think 500 watts is too much for a 30 gallon tank? I am looking at the SunPod HQI Metal Halide Pro. It has two 250 watt and 12 blue and 12 white led.

 

[vettesarebest]

Well, Dawgdude, the difference is I have a 30. lol Just Kidding. I just want to be able to keep beautiful corals and have them grow really fast.

 

[skriz]

I had a 30g with an iwasaki 250w. Growth and light were intense. I agree, 500 seems a little too high!

 

[tsciarini]

I had 500w over my 30 for a little while just for fun.... major heat issues. I used a full sized box fan for cooling.... I kept it on there for a while actually. The corals were happy but the fan was pretty ghetto
LOL
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[skriz]

Ghetto tank setups are like cornbread....ain't nothing wrong with that!

 

[showtime305]

I don't think it's to much lighting. The bigger concern would be heat. That would be a good amount of light for an sps/clam tank.

 

[showtime305]

I still like that tank Tony.

 

[vettesarebest]

Nice tank Tony, So I guess the major issue is heat and not too much light. I guess it all depends on where the corals are and if they are properly acclimated to this light. I want to keep sps and clams mostly. Do you guys think I would be able to get away with it without a chiller?

 

[showtime305]

I think 2 clip-on fans may keep it cool. You may be able to get away with 1 fan, but if the fan is able to cool the tank be prepared for some major evaporation.

 

[tsciarini]

As AJs example... I eventually had two fans blowing to keep the temps down but it would still spike close to 82 and the evap was killer. I was topping off about 3-4gallons a day on a 35gal total volume system...

 

[skriz]

wow! that's about a 10% topoff everyday. That would be extremely difficult to keep stable.

 

[showtime305]

a good auto top-off system can keep it stable.

 

[ouling]

Can't have too much light, maybe just too much heat, that thing is hanging really low.

 

[vettesarebest]

I already have pretty bad evaporation because it is open top and I don't think I could manage any more. I guess I might go with one 250. Thanks for the input guys!