Tank Upgrade Lighting Questions

[jonboyb]

Woot.....the wife has agreed that if I take 2 of my JBJ 28's down (particularly the one on the landing outside the bedroom...LOL) I can put a larger setup downstairs. I REALLY like the new Marineland big "cubes" in either 30x30x18 or 30x30x24. However, lighting these bad boys will be a challenge. I'm a MH guy and there's no real good way to run multiple MH's.

Would my single 250w DE pendant with 64w PC along with 48w T5's to each side be adequate for a pretty serious SPS tank. Should be good color with MH, PC, and T5's, but I want adequate PAR. My goal for this tank will be a central rock stack for SPS with an open sandbed all around for bottom dwellers since I've never been able to house substrate LPS and clams in my small cubes packed with rock. In theory, the SPS will be directly under the MH pendant.

 

[lukestimp]

Those Marineland Cubes are Sick!!! I've been working on the other half to allow me to get the 30x30x24 as well... As far as lighting one I've been looking into it and I believe I'm going to go with a Single 400 Watt MH and a Couple T5's.

 

[lukestimp]

Also put me first in line for one of those 28 JBJ's!!!

 

[reefknight]

I just set one of the 30x30x18 (70gal) cubes up for my mother to house a few discus. The tank is awesome! Build quality is quite nice and the stand appears to be made well. I love the dimensions of it and am considering selling my 30 cube to purchase one of these.

I would think that a single 400w in a large reflector would do you for SPS. Maybe a wall mount bracket affair similar to what Matt(MvM) has on his Solana. Personally I was considering running about 8 T-5's or maybe even 10 above it.

 

[william1]

I would go with the 250 watt SE with the lumenbright reflectors and be done with it add a couple T5s and call it a day. But your going to need a small chiller.

 

[ralph atl]

18 inches high 250 is plenty. I disagree about the chiller. I have 2, 400 watt MH over my 85, she doesn't get hotter than 80. I have 1 pc fan over sump. Lights are 8.5 inches off surface.

 

[reefknight]

I had a 250W pendant w/ 2 32w pc @ 12" off the surface of my Oceanic 30 cube for a couple of years. It did heat the water slightly, but putting a fan on my sump connected to my AC Jr kept the temp under 80 degrees. House temp was usually around 73-75 degrees.

 

[jonboyb]

At this point I've gotta try what I have already. It'll have the 250 DE pendant with 64w PC's and a 2x24 T5 HO's on each side. Chiller won't be an issue if needed.