lighting question

[morgan]

hello all i'm new to the forum and i would like to say that it is great and very informative. well now for my question. i have a 55g. fowlr 48x18x13. it has been up for approx. 3 years and i want to start adding some shrooms and polyps and more sps later. i have a 36" 2 x 96w cfl and i was wondering if this is enough. thanks

That is no where near enought light for sps.. On my 55gal setup I have 2x250w Mh and 2x55w Pc actinics.. I plan on adding another 2x55w PC Actinics in the coming weeks.. I feel that my lighting choice let me have just about anything as well as lets them thrive quite well... I would personally recommend that if you want to keep SPS that you have at Least 2x175w Mh and some sort of actinics.. My personal thoughts would be to get a hood either DIY or bought.. Strip the 2x96w PCs out of the fixture put actinic bulbs in there and then get yourself a dual 250w MH fixture and mount that as well... It would give you the most possiblities when eventually adding SPS.. The shrooms should be fine under your current lighting... the polyps all depend as to which ones.. but most will fair decent at best..

HTH<
James

[reefrunner69]

to AquariumAdvice.com!!!

You might be OK with SOME species of SPS if your were to add a couple more 96W PCs, but most SPS are out of your reach for lighting.

Where was my manners lol BTW

Welcome To AA as well..


James

[Electrobes]

I dunno about needing THAT much light cj10488! A single 250 watt and actinics would be okay for most.. not really sure you need dual 250s though. Dual 175s would definately be good for a 55 gal tank (granted with actinics).

[reefrunner69]

A single 250 watt and actinics would be okay for most.. not really sure you need dual 250s though. Dual 175s would definately be good for a 55 gal tank (granted with actinics

A single MH will not light a 4ft tank. MH is good for 2ft square. 55g is 4 ft long and has a center brace in the middle that will cast a shadow. While 2 X 250W is not necessary, it is certainly viable and allows room for upgrade.

not really sure you need dual 250s though

If you are going to Buy an MH setup why not going with something that is not going to limit you if you move them to a different tank.. You would want 1 Mh bulb per 2 ft of tank.. A 55gal tank is 4ft so you would want 2 bulbs.. A 55gal tank is kinda tall as well and when selecting bulbs if you go by the standard then you are at the far end of 175mh and and the bottom end of 250's.. Either will suffice but I would rather spend the extra 2.00 or so and buy the 250's and be able to put them on a larger tank when I upgrade.. Dual 250w is by far not too much light for a 55gal tank.. I personally run that and I know others who run more than that on a 55gal tank.. I believe Kevin runs a Single 250 on his 20gal tank if I am correct.. My LFS has 400's on all their display tanks and they are about 18" deep.. I dont have the chart right now for choosing Mh bulbs depending on Depth but if you search you will find out that 175w lights are suggested for a tank no deeper than 18" and 250's cover from like 18"-24" and anything above that is 400 i belive if my memory serves me correctly

[morgan]

thanks for the welcomes and replies. they have certainly given me a lot to think about. looks like i will be upgrading my lighting. if i decide to go with dual 250's how high will they have to be from the top of my tank? and would that height be the same if i choose to just add 2 more 96w pc's. right now my current pc's are 6" away. thanks for all the help.

i have mind about 8" to 9" above the water.. 6" should work just fine.. The main reason as to having them so high is due to if water splashes it will make a bomb of your light lol.. the common answer is 12" however you will find most run their lights between 8" and 9"

HTH,
James

[loganj]

Another thing you'll want to have plans for is the extra heat that the higher output lamps will generate. If you have glass tops on the tank, you'll probably want to remove them. Also, I expect you'll need a couple of fans somewhere in the hood to help evacuate the heat.

Another thing you'll want to have plans for is the extra heat that the higher output lamps will generate

Yes A good suggestion that I came up with was to mount 2 120mm Enermax 12v fans exhausting 1 on each side.. Total cost for the fans was 12.00ea and about 14.00 for the 12v power supply.. Works very nice.. My canopy is almost completely closed up and I have no issues with cooling at all... my tank stays at the same temp all day long..

HTH<
James

[morgan]

thanks for the advice. i will be upgrading soon and i'm sure it will all be helpful.

[biotoxin]

just go with pendants and you wont need fans