Lighting questions

[abozoki]

So a couple of newbies (that'd be me and my wife) hear from the LFS that it'd take 8 weeks to build a custom canopy to go with our new tank. Our idea of a complex DIY project is microwaving a frozen dinner, so we convince my uncle who is in construction to come into town and help. He wants us to just tell him what we need and he'll do it.

So we buy a hood from Marine Depot that looks like it has everything we could possibly want (MH at Marinedepot) and we order it with 2 175 Watt MH bulbs one 12,000 K and one 5,500 K, figuring the light will mix and we'll have a nice full spectrum.

Uncle came and we told him we needed it 3 inches above top of tank, (except when we want to get into the tank when we want it out of the way) so he suspends it all from pulleys and life is almost grand. Our problem is that the light from the two bulbs doesn't really mix, so now we have a blue side and a white side and the beautiful light blue coral from the LFS looks dingy brown in our tank. So we've decided to add PC flourescents into the hood by ourselves. Here are our questions:

1) With a 46 GAL bowfront tank that already has 2X175 Watt MH how much more wattage can we add safely before we start making our coral/fish upset at too much light?

2) How low a wattage can we get on the new PC flourescent(s) that we add and still have the additional bulb make a difference (not get drowned out by 350 Watts of MH)?

3) What is the easiest thing to buy to install in the hood for DIY impaired folks like us? I was thinking of this since it says we can just superglue it in.

4) What K for each bulb (we'll swap out one of the 2 existing MH if we need to) - I was guessing 2 X 175 5,500K MH with 96 watts of PC blue actinic would give us a full specxtrum, but blue actinic is only 7,100 K so I'm not sure.

Thanks,
David and Andrea

 

[liquid]

1) With a 46 GAL bowfront tank that already has 2X175 Watt MH how much more wattage can we add safely before we start making our coral/fish upset at too much light?

There's people running 1000 watters over their tanks so you're fine. 175 watt halides will allow you to keep soft coral and LPS and maybe a couple SPS depending on the species.

2) How low a wattage can we get on the new PC flourescent(s) that we add and still have the additional bulb make a difference (not get drowned out by 350 Watts of MH)?

You're going to have to put a LOT of PC's in there if you want to offset the dingyness of that 5500 K bulb. My recommendation would be to return the 5500 K bulb and exchange it for another 12,000 K bulb. Marine Depot is very good with customer service so I don't think you'll have a problem with it.

3) What is the easiest thing to buy to install in the hood for DIY impaired folks like us? I was thinking of this since it says we can just superglue it in.

If you replace the 5500 K bulb with a 12,000 K bulb this will become a non-issue.

4) What K for each bulb (we'll swap out one of the 2 existing MH if we need to) - I was guessing 2 X 175 5,500K MH with 96 watts of PC blue actinic would give us a full specxtrum, but blue actinic is only 7,100 K so I'm not sure.

Thanks,
David and Andrea

This will also become a non-issue if you return the 5500 K bulb for a 12,000 K bulb.

hth

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

First step is to replace the 5500k bulb, then look at it. If you Still don't like the color, one or two of those 96watt PC's will do fine. What you're looking for is a Retro-fit, just like you found. However, DON"T superglue it in. Use screws. Two 1/2" stainless steel screws will hold that up nicely-the bulbs weigh next to nothing. However, over time, superglue may fail. (superglue is only strong in one direction, and Doesn't work too well on metal. You need something with moisture in it like wood or paper or skin for superglue to work correctly.)

hope this helps,

B

 

[abozoki]

Thanks for the feedback. If I replace the 5500K with a 12000 and still don't like the color do I get a 96 W Actinic PC or some other PC?

 

[Anonymous]

If you want it to be more blue actinic is the bulb you want to get.

 

[liquid]

Thanks for the feedback. If I replace the 5500K with a 12000 and still don't like the color do I get a 96 W Actinic PC or some other PC?

If you don't like the color of the 12,000 K bulbs after you've switched to using them, return both of them and pick up two 175 watt 20,000 K XM bulbs:

http://www.marinedepot.com/a_lt_mh_bulb.asp?CartId=

Check out the color of the different lamps here: http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

Shane, what do you like for 175 watt mogul based bulbs without supplemental lighting? I am using 3 10,000k Ushios (?) over a FOWLR system. The bulbs are pretty old (got to be 2, maybe 3 years old now) and need replacing. I have been hearing that the 13-14K bulbs will probably give me better color rendition in the tank, and the cite you posted appears to confirm this (at least for 250 watters). Any recomendations?