MH for 29 gallon?

[reefmaster]

hi everyone, i want to upgrade to Metal halide for my 29 gallon long. My LFS recomended that i get the new 150 watt K-2 viper lights (intentionaly for nanos) , but im afriad that it wont cover the whole tank. Any suggestions?

[MT79]

I've never heard of a 29 gal long. On a standard 29 gal. (30" long) there will be a little shading on the sides of the tank, but not too much. I had a single MH over a 29 gal and thought it looked just fine. HTH

[TheRealFF]

Wow cool. I never thought MH was availbable for 30G. I might consider getting some for mine later on yay

[Brenden]

As MT said a single MH over a 30" tank is not a issue.

[MarineFlake]

I use the the Coralife 24" over my 29G.

http://www.hellolights.com/24aqpr1x15hq.html

All 3 lights are on different switches. It requires some 'engineering' to get it to sit over the tank since the legs do not fit proper on a 29G standard, but lights the whole tank. I have both SPS and LPS in the tank and will add a clam soon as I find the 'right' crocea.

Peace.

[reefmaster]

i guess ill go and buy it then. its nice becasue if i go to 60 gallon, just have to buy another one and not hassle with a whole new light fixture and hood.

[MarineFlake]

Heres a couple shots of my (dirty) 29G with the 24" over it...You can see the use of the wood to hold the light over the tank. Temp swing is 2 degrees and can be further mitigated if need be with a fan. I have never needed one..

[reefmaster]

nice pictures. I was always fustrated on how i could fit a 24 inch fixture on my 30 inch tank. Thanks for the idea. If i do get the viper lights, will i be able to put in hard corals and stony polyps? I currently have some soft corals.

[MarineFlake]

You can't see real well from these 2 photos but the little burgandy blob at top left and the green blob at bottom left are 2 flavors of montipora (SPS) coral. Oddly, the green at the bottom is growing faster then the burgandy at the top. They are fairly new additions to the tank (Couple months) but both have displayed growth and the green specimen actually recovered from some bleaching due to some issues early on. Id say the 24" fixture over a 29G (150 + 2 x 65w) is more than enough to illuminate the tank.

Peace.