70 watt MH in a BC 29

[nishant3789]

Well, I originally hadnt planned on upgrading my lighting, but after seeing some of yalls tanks, I figure I cant be a real reefkeeper till I keep sps lol. basically for the tank that i have, the 29 gallon oceanic biocube, there are only a few options for upgrading the lights. either i could go 4X36 watts, which is a lot of light, but still just PC or i could go with 1X36 and 1X70 MH. I really do like hte 70 watt halides, but ya know its just 70 watts halide. I dont want to have to upgrade my lighting again, my wallet cant afford it! My wish would be to figure out a way to stuff a 150 HQI into the hood and not melt my tank, but I feel thatd be just unrealistic without a chiller or a gazillion fans making an aweful din. So it kind of boils down to the 70 watt MH + 36 PC. Do you guys think i would really be limited as to the range of sps that would live in my tank without loosing too much colour?
Thanks
Nishant

 

[nishant3789]

Oh yeah, heres a picture of my tank currently, its pretty bland i wont lie but im taking things slow and im really picky about my inhabitants. Im already thinking im going to have to remove my diadema dottyback before i put any other fish in there. She is really mean to say the least. I put a six-line a few weeks ago and got pecked hte hell out of. within a few minutes he burried himself. I thought no big deal hell come out when he grows a pair, but it looks like he gave himself a funeral before the dottyback could finish him off.all that was missing was a little flower above his grave. . I figured wrasses could hold their own against dottybacks, but i guess not in such a relatively small enviorment.

anyway heres the picture:
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[jefft]

Looks good! How much lr do you have? I was told by others on this site, the rule of thumb is one pound per gallon. Being a petland counselor they should give you some at a real good price and you should donate 20 or 30 pounds to me for this helpful suggestion. imho lol

 

[nishant3789]

hehe, it is a really good rule of thumb and i should definetly follow it. My discount is actually overall pretty crappy. I barely get more than ARC members do honestly. I love working where i work because im a hobbyist and i get to take care of things i could never afford for myself.

I actually only have 18 lbs or so, and i definetly plan on putting more in there, but not tooo much more maybe like 5 or 6 more lbs. See when you buy frags from stores generally they come on rocks that weigh about a quarter of a lb or more. In a tank of my dimensions where i dont really have great surface area, i need to be really careful about rock placement as well as my actual water column volume since the tanks volume is small in general. Also for the filteration benefits of live rock, i am going to stuff my middle chamber with as much live rock rubble as will fit in there.

 

[wolfie]

Pound per Gallon are out of wack. Some RL are heavy then other, so that rule are really out the door.

Nishant3789 everthink of using T5 for your tank? Your tank are shorter so T5 would work great. People are known to even keep clam in their tank with T5. Also it going to be less heat then MH

 

[nishant3789]

yeah it is out of whack, but i think its still a good starting place if your new to the hobby and cant tell porous rock from dense rock.

I really like T5s but sadly they just dont come as T5HO in anything under 24". Im fairly certain my tank is 20 inches or so long, and my working space (the hood) is even less than that. It really is just a matter of time before they make T5HO for smaller tanks, but till then MH will have to do. If anyone has happened to see a 16" T5HO please direct me, but im pretty sure if torn up the web looking for some hope with no avail.

 

[wolfie]

Current USA SlimPaq
10 Watt T5 NO Lamp
Part#:RCU02100

Larger Photo 16.25 inches from end of pin to end of pin (for 18 inch fixtures/retrofits)

The 22in are HO

 

[nishant3789]

mmm yeah ive seen those before, but i want to keep sps. has anyone done PAR readings with T5NOs with individual reflectors? Ive been under the impression the T5NOs dont put out much more light than one side of a PC bulb of similar size if that makes any sense. I suppose i could figure out a way to overdrive them, but Id really prefer something tried and true. thanks though Wolfie!
Nishant

 

[nishant3789]

here are some crappy macro shots with my Cannon SD630. has anyone managed to get decent macro shots with this camera?
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[showtime305]

WOLFIE;33604 wrote: Current USA SlimPaq
10 Watt T5 NO Lamp
Part#:RCU02100

Larger Photo 16.25 inches from end of pin to end of pin (for 18 inch fixtures/retrofits)

<span style="color: black;">Those are normal output fluorescents. They would do nothing for that tank but provide viewing light.</span>

 

[nishant3789]

Well I mean in all honesty the T5NOs are a slight better than T8NOs of similar lengths i feel. I have a double fixture over my 29 freshwater planted tank and things are growing really well. It is definetly brighter than my old 24" bulb. I think it probably puts out hte smae light as a single 55 watt PC. my fixture is like 36 watts i think T5NO. But yeah were dealing with sps here. thanks for the quick responses
nishant

 

[showtime305]

To answer your question. I think you will have more success with a 150w HQI bulb. I chiller will be a must have though.

 

[nishant3789]

Thanks aj, but im really not looking to drop half a grand on a chiller right now. think theres anyway to cool the lighting system through fans?

 

[wolfie]

I know the 16.25 are no, but the 24W are HO so it are much better.

I would looking into that rather then 150MH and a chiller

 

[showtime305]

Nishant3789;33619 wrote: Thanks aj, but im really not looking to drop half a grand on a chiller right now. think theres anyway to cool the lighting system through fans?

There are several fan mods that can be done to cubes for cooling. Check out http://www.nano-reef.com/">http://www.nano-reef.com/</a> or the nano cube section on RC to see what mods people are doing for your tank model. You can probably find a chiller for $350 or less for that size tank.

[QUOTE=][B]WOLFIE;33620 wrote:[/B] I know the 16.25 are no, but the 24W are HO so it are much better.

I would looking into that rather then 150MH and a chiller[/QUOTE]

I think the 24w bulbs may be to long for his tank.

 

[showtime305]

If you remove the top you can use the desk fan like recommended above, but if you choose the keep the top, there should be mods available to keep your tank cool.

 

[reefscape]

now if he take's the top off think its sunpac makes a mh to fit...

 

[jefft]

What's heavier a pound of light live rock, a pound of heavy live rock or a pound of feathers?