steve149c
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi all,
I'm really struggling with my Watts/Litre. My tank is a 270L Bow fronted, which means that the rectangle section at the back is 120cm x 26cm, and then the front bows out 19 cm more. I can't buy an off the shelf lighting system.
If I install regular T5 tubes I can only get 3 x 34" tubes, producing a total of 117 Watts, which is about 0.5 Watt/Litre.
Therefore I have looked at mounting two 150W Metal Halides in the rear section, and a single T5 or possibly another 150W MH in the front section which would give 2 Watt/Litre. My questions are:
(1) What's the spread on the light, ie the footprint of the beam?
(2) How hot do 150W's get?
(3) How much gap above and below the lights do I need?
I may well resort to building a new lid for the tank, but before I do I'd be interested in the answers.
My tank will be Fish & reef, with soft coral/polyps to begin, but I might move onto hard corals later.
Any advice greatly appreciated,
Thanks
Steve
I'm really struggling with my Watts/Litre. My tank is a 270L Bow fronted, which means that the rectangle section at the back is 120cm x 26cm, and then the front bows out 19 cm more. I can't buy an off the shelf lighting system.
If I install regular T5 tubes I can only get 3 x 34" tubes, producing a total of 117 Watts, which is about 0.5 Watt/Litre.
Therefore I have looked at mounting two 150W Metal Halides in the rear section, and a single T5 or possibly another 150W MH in the front section which would give 2 Watt/Litre. My questions are:
(1) What's the spread on the light, ie the footprint of the beam?
(2) How hot do 150W's get?
(3) How much gap above and below the lights do I need?
I may well resort to building a new lid for the tank, but before I do I'd be interested in the answers.
My tank will be Fish & reef, with soft coral/polyps to begin, but I might move onto hard corals later.
Any advice greatly appreciated,
Thanks
Steve