Which lighting?

[XxTitleisTxX]

Hi, i was wondering what kind of lighting i would need to have in my 55g tank. I havent set the tank up yet so im open for any suggestions. I was thinking to get a 400 watt metal halide. Will this cost much more to run that 250 watt MH? and i was kind of hoping to get a nice anemone and some soft corals

-Jarrod

 

[BillyZ]

(sorry no one has replied yet!!!)


with most 55 gallons (like mine) there is a bar that supports the middle of the tank and so any single point light setup will cast an ugly shadow down the middle of the tank. You can, however, have a "bright side" and a "not so bright" side of your tank. IOW, MH on one side and just PC on the other. But if you want bright all the way, I would say you'll want 2 MHs, one over each half of the tank. As far as cost, the wattage is pretty close to the power consumption, so a 400w fixutre is almost twice that of a 250 watt. give what I just said, you'll probably want 2x250w MH and you'll want to suppliment that with some Actinic PC lights.

JMO!

 

[Atari]

I think all that MH lighting on a 55 gal soft coral tank would be unnecessary. Infact some softies might not appreciate it at all.

If you have no desire to keep SPS corals or clams then look at fluorescents instead.

 

[XxTitleisTxX]

Thanks for the advice, billy. My tank does have a bar in the middle, but the problem is that i would pay $400Aud for a 400 watt MH and $390 for a 150 watt, so it will cost way too much to get 2 lights. But i wouldnt think the bar would make much of a difference at all, considering its made of the same glass as the lids?
Is yours made of plastic? 8O

 

[captivereefs]

With soft corals i would look a the Coralife 48" 4-65 watt PC hood. THat would be perfect. I have a loca customer that keeps a Bubble tip aemone in his 55 under the Coralife hood but he feeds it 3 times a weekto compensate or the lack of MH lighting! The coralife hood i under $200 USD

 

[XxTitleisTxX]

What could i keep under 1x250w Mh + 2x40w blue actinic?...(6 watts per gallon)

 

[XxTitleisTxX]

Will this be too much for soft corals? is there no way i can have soft, sps/lps and a magnifica anemone for my true percs? also is there any way i can have a MH pendant that doesnt need to be installed in the ceiling? I dont have the money for a chiller so i cant keep lights too close to the tank TIA

 

[captivereefs]

For a 4ft tank you need 2 MH Bulbs. I know of no pendants that does not need to ba hung from the cieling. A chiller probably will be required if you go MH. I would really look into Power compacts. It fits within your budget and will not cause heat problems. Plus most corals will do fine under it. You would have to shy away from SPS and clams though.

 

[XxTitleisTxX]

Thanks alot

 

[XxTitleisTxX]

What do you think of 2x http://www.aquaria.com.au/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/1_4/products_id/3786

and 4x
http://www.aquaria.com.au/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/1_4/products_id/4206

What could i keep under these

thanks in advance

 

[Dvoros]

If you decide to go PC lighting, i would check out the link below, i bought their 36" light with lunar led's and cooling fans and I really love it. MH's are too expensive for me and the PC's really are a great addition. Someone said that with the 2 96w pc's i can have about 90% of the corals out there. So if you want to save some money and go down a step to pc's these are what I would recomend

http://www.hellolights.com/comfluorsys.html


Dave