RIght now I have a FOWLR, but I am slowly upgrading to reef. I have two lighting choices. My lighting right now is 3 regular strip lights with special bulbs, Two are 9325k saltwater lights and one is a 20000K atinic bulb. what I was thinking was adding a 65 watt Power Compact lighting house. That would be a total of 125 watts. I'm thinking of raising Pulsing xenia, green polyps, maybe a brain, and mostly softies. My other lighting choice was a 175 watt metal halide with a 10,000K bulb, from hellolihgts.com, pulse start. I would also have the regular strip light flourescent on it to give it a bluer look. I just was thinking that that would be overkill since I am not going to keep SPS or anything that needs that extreme of lighting. If I were to go SPS I would probably go SPS in a couple years, not now. And if I had the first lighting system I could always add a 75 or 100 watt metal halide to it. Also If I were to get the metal halide 175 watt, should I get the 10,000K bulb or a 20,000K blub?, thanks.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
help me with this lighting situation.
- Thread starter Enzo
- Start date
Go with the 175W metal halide. Ushio and Aqualine make great 10,000K bulbs I recommend. The additional light doesn't just help SPS; your other corals will love it as well. I grow SPS, LPS, softies, shrooms, clams, and anemones under halides and they are delight in the light intensity (grrr, that sounds campy). Trust me, you can't go wrong with the halide. In fact, not remembering what size tank you have, a 250W DE halide system would even be worthy of consideration.
Enzo":3372ebur said:And if I had the first lighting system I could always add a 75 or 100 watt metal halide to it. Also If I were to get the metal halide 175 watt, should I get the 10,000K bulb or a 20,000K blub?, thanks.
You don't give us the two most important details - what are the dimensions of the tank and how deep is your sandbed.
However you will be better off buying the MH and I would recommend the 175W 10K german as Len did
Also, I am leaning toward the power compact setup just because I don't have enough money for the metal halides. I would rather go with the cheaper lihgts that are sufficient enough so I can upgrade some of my other stuff like circulation, and more live rock... Remember I am only 15 and I don't have a job so I'm always tight on cash. I pretty much blow all my money on reef stuff. And if I went with the metal halides I would have no money to buy the coral 8O . And then their would be no purpose to super cool lights. Neways, when I go to SPS I think I will just supplement my existing lighting with metal halides, but nots going to be for years and years.
My other question would be if if I went with a power compact setup which one, I am looking at just buy7ing a strip light power compact. My choices are coralife aqualight(24in, 65 watt, 50/50 bulb), all glass aquarium compact fluorescent strip light(24,in., 55watt, 9325K GE bulb), or the Custom Sea life smartlight(24in., 65 watt, half 10,000K and half Ultra-Atinic). I found the coralife for 50 dollars, AGA compact fluorescent for 65, and the CSL smartlight for 77, all on bigalsonline.com. Thanks.
My other question would be if if I went with a power compact setup which one, I am looking at just buy7ing a strip light power compact. My choices are coralife aqualight(24in, 65 watt, 50/50 bulb), all glass aquarium compact fluorescent strip light(24,in., 55watt, 9325K GE bulb), or the Custom Sea life smartlight(24in., 65 watt, half 10,000K and half Ultra-Atinic). I found the coralife for 50 dollars, AGA compact fluorescent for 65, and the CSL smartlight for 77, all on bigalsonline.com. Thanks.
Hey man I am 15 to so I know how you feel. What I would do is check ebay and all the for sale forums and if at all possible find the 175 MH cheap. If this can not be done PC's will do fine for softies but you cant go wrong with the halides now. Goodluck with the tank,
JJ
_________________
Irritable Bowel Syndrome Forum
JJ
_________________
Irritable Bowel Syndrome Forum
If you want to do PCs ona 29, CSL makes a quad 96 watt smartlight that is pretty neat. This will be fine for softs and some LPS. 175 watt halide would be cool too but not cool as in temp :wink: . If you did the halide, be careful not to boil your tank! You might think about the halides when you get a bigger tank but it can be done with what you have. It may require an even bigger investment though like a chiller. Hopefully not though. You could leave it open top and blow a fan across the tank surface. Evaporation would be a bear though and cause havoc with specific gravity in such a small tank. Good luck and it is good to see such a young hobbyist spending all his dough on reef stuff. I am in my late twenties and still spend most of my dough on reef stuff to. Damn habit. :wink:
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
