is this gonna be too much light???

[Steelerfan7]

Hello all. I have recently gotten a coralife aqualight pro with 2 250w MH's
This was to replace My PC's that well.... gotta be honest its a suprise they still come on in the morning... it's been a good 5 yr run but they are about dead. I am currently running a 55 gallon system. I have ordered a oceanic tech 120 which these lights would be great for but I am worried about putting them over my 55 for fear of just scorching everything...if not boiling the water. My new tank will not be here for about 6 weeks... so think mid june Uggggghhhh. Does anyone have any experience with this much light in this tiny of a tank. I need to put some light over the tank .. literally the pc's might not be as strong as say standard tank lights at this point... any thoughts/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[roka64]

WELCOME TO AA!!

Is it the 48" 492W (roughly 8.95WPG) or 48" 696W (roughtly 12.65WPG)? The feet should keep it about 4.5 inches over the water. Depending on what you have in your tank, you should be good. Make sure you reacclimate any corals to the newer more intense lighting.
On another note, PCs and most other light bulbs need to be replaced, otherwise the spectrum of light will shift.
Go Steelers!

 

[Steelerfan7]

It's the 692?? 2 250'sand 2 96 pc's... Yeah I had been replacing the bulbs about once a year on the PC's but last time the part where you plug in the new lights literally crumbled in my hand, and we had to actually rig it so the wires were interacting with the pins to get them to light up. So there will be no more changing of them as honestly if my wife knew how much of a fire hazard I thought they were she would have killed me along time ago. I knew this was comming and I kept waiting and wating thinking we are gonna get a bigger tank with better lights etc..... but just life kept getting in the way (moves, grad school, job changes, now building a house etc..) So now even though we are moving about 20 miles in Dec.. It is just time.... no more waitng I just don't want to scorch my 55's till the new tank gets here and honestly it's gonna take me about another 2 weeks after that to get all the plumbing and such set up so we are looking at about 2 months total. Thanks for the imput.

 

[roka64]

Sure thing, what do you have in your tank now?

 

[Steelerfan7]

Not a whole lot coral wise I have about 70lbs LR some xenia, a lether and some zoos. I have been trying unsuccessfully to get bubble coral and Hammer coral to grow in there for about 5 yrs now... in fact it was seeing a giant bubble coral years ago that got me into the hobby. So I have tried each of them about 3 times each. But I had Lucifer my cleaner shrimp who Liked to pick at them and they kept dying so My corals have been on hold for about the last 2 yrs while Lucifer lived out his life ( I mean for a reef safe shrimp he was a nightmare he candycanes he would basicly eat anything super soft.. he did not like my leather however. I couldn't kill him and had no other tanks for him so I have waited it out.... now that he is gone and my life has settled down I am making a real run at getting this to be a show tank. As for fish... well I have a yellow tang and a Sailfin tang.... Yes 2 tangs in a 55... I know it's the end of the world but I have had all my fish for at least 3 yrs... as welll as a flame angel and a royal grommis... who I only see at meal time and a pair of mated clowns who refuse to go further than 6 inches from thier home power head.... So the is a good foundation in that the tank has been up for about 5 yrs... but Like I said I am really just now trying to make it what it can be... now that I am not on a grad student budget.

 

[melosu58]

It sounds like it would be OK esp. with proper light acclimation. If you think it is too much you can always hang from the ceiling and have it about 12 to 18 inches from the top. That would help as far as heating the water and light intensity. Moving this to General Hardware and equipment discussion.

 

[MT79]

I have a very similar lighting set up over my 55 (2x250 MH w/ 2x110 watt VHO). Acclimate any corals that you already have or introduce in the future very carefully. I would recommend the screen method. Place 3-4 layers of screen over the tank. Remove one layer every 5-10 days to slowly increase the intensity of light the coral receives. Running them for just a couple hours, w/ no screen, can burn corals not acclimated to MH. It may be a little more light than some LPS and softies appreciate, even if acclimated to it correctly. You can work around this by placing them towards the bottom or under an overhang, etc where there is less light. Heat is an issue too. In the summer when room temps get to about ~77-79 my tank can hit 86 degrees, or higher if room temp increases. I use two small fans mounted in the canopy to move air over my tank. High light corals such as SPS, zoos, and clams will eat it up. Good luck w/ the 120 and HTH

 

[mulron]

IMHO - yea I would think this too much light especially with just LPS in the tank. At the height of a 55gal you really only need 125W MH. Unless you plan on going pure SPS/zoos you don't need that much light (which looks to me you want a hammer and a bubble so I'd take that as a no).

Even if you compensate for the extra light and raise the lights about 10inches above you will lose the Actinic side of the lighting if both are enclosed in the same lighting system.