help with lighting setup

[glxtrix]

alright, so my bud is going to eventually start to put corals in his 30g long, and I'm trying to decide what lighting would be best for it. I know he wants to eventually have an SPS dom tank, so were going to go with MH or T5 from the start. Seeing I really dont kno wmuch about T5's I was wondering if you T5 users could offer good setups for that tank size. Or if we were to go with MH, seeing that the tank is long, what do you think, 2x150 HQI's? or like 1x250 SE......ahhh sooo many options, what do you think? Thanks for your input and advice.

Lee

PS - and these will be retro setups.

 

[darren24]

FWIW I had a 40 Breeder set up for a while and had an Aqualight Pro 1 150W with 2 x 65 W actinics and it was plenty of light for that shallow of a tank. 2 150W Halides would be fine. Not very familiar with T5's but have heard good things about them.

 

[george]

IIRC, a 30 long is only about a foot deep. Any MH source would probably be fine for all types. I think a 250 would leave you with "nowhere to hide" for anything that doesn't like living on the sun. A 150 with some actinics would be plenty IMO or maybe 2x70w if you want a bit more even coverage.

250 is doable, certainly, but overkill, IMO, unless you want to do clams (and even then, not "necessary").

 

[glxtrix]

yeah i'm more concerned with the length of the tank and even light coverage. I was thinkin about 2x70HQI's, but I think the 2x150's might be better; just to give it that extra umph incase he wants clams.

 

[tsciarini]

oh come on... I had 2x250w 10Ks over my 30...lol

honestly I think that the best config for this size tank would be T5s. Low heat (important on this size tank), low wattage, high light output. With that depth there shouldnt be any reason why he wouldnt be able to keep anything he wanted in that tank (unless he overloads it with actinics).

IMO (ofcourse )

 

[hng]

I gotta 30 gal as well and have 3 T5's overdriven with an icecap and it fries my corals. I even took the relfector off of one of the bulbs and things actually look a lot better now. I would recommend 3 T5 bulbs NORMALLY driven and that would be plenty of light for anything including sps. Why am I using an icecap you ask, cause I already had it and am too lazy/cheap to get a replacement.

 

[gwen_o_lyn]

George wrote: I think a 250 would leave you with "nowhere to hide" for anything that doesn't like living on the sun. A 150 with some actinics would be plenty IMO or maybe 2x70w if you want a bit more even coverage.

I think my 12g is about 12" tall and there is no where to hide if you do low light corals. My soft corals HATE that tank.

If you are familar with the very hardy ARC green zoas that have been passed all over the club- ya know the ones that take over your tank about a year after you put the 5 polyp frag in??? And don't forget they survived Chris' tank disaster too. Well I had a small frag that I had taken out and 2 of the green zoas moved to a rock- well there is only 2 green zoas barely hanging on to life about 8 months later. They were in the shade too. That just goes to show how much my soft corals did not like the intense lighting.

And you want an SPS tank, so 150w would work great. I have a derasa that's also very happy. If you go with two 150's plan to have a major heat problem. A sump would be a good idea if you go with intense lighting.

I have no personal experience with T5's so I can't comment on them.

 

[glxtrix]

yeah Big D I can definately support you sayin Sam is a great guy, i've done business with him befor and hes great. Ok so I guess whats the difference of light output between say 2XT5 kits which is 156W VS. 150W halide? Is the par rating that much higher?

 

[glxtrix]

ok I've done some reading, pretty interesting what I've seen so far, I guess its all about the reflector and the ballast which give these small lamps the best output usage of the light....here is a link that basically goes over the differance of HID and T-5's used in large spaces

 

[kwl1763]

I'm a MH guy in a big way so it hurt me to type this post but.....

The problem would be to get the 3ft spread you would need with one MH you would need to have it way off the water. Like at least 12" and probably more and have a great reflector like a lumenarc which is huge and probably wouldn't work asthetically in your situation.

So the choice is 2 MHs (300W min) or 3 or 4 T5s which at most is 150W. In that shallow a tank you will be able to grow anything in there with T5s and you can have a shallow canopy, have less heat issues, etc, etc. I would go with 4 T5s and have 2 10ks and 2 actinics. Use the Icecap reflectors and ya Sam is a great guy with great prices.

 

[glxtrix]

lol, I'm a MH guy too so I can understand where youre comin from, lol. I guess its good that he wants to start going with the kepping of corals, that way i can do a lil experiment on the differances of T-5's with his tank and the halide on mine. Granted it wont be precise cuz of different husbandry and what not, but it'll still be cool to see if its to my liking without buyin it first