I recently purchased an Oceanic 58 gallon reef ready aquarium to be set up as my next salt water tank. The dimensions of than are 36x18x21 and I am trying to find a lighting pendant that will work for the tank. The tank will not have a canopy and will more than likely be located in my bedroom as I am a college student and won't have much room to place it otherwise. For this reason I am looking to get a pendant that I can mount within about 4 or so inches form the top of the waterline to prevent light pollution into my room. I like the idea of using metal halides and power compact actinics yet I have a few concerns. I have heard that using a single center mounted halide bulb can lead to darker areas at the edges of the tank and I want to avoid this as much as possible. For this reason I am leaning toward using two 150 Watt halide with two pc strips. Would two 150 watt halides cause my temperature to rise to the point where it may require a chiller? Would it be better to go with a nice selection of pc strips? Does anyone have any experience with a single halide on a 36 inch tank? How much of a dark area is created at the edges? I am basically looking for any information that can help me make this decision. I am currently looking at a few pendants by Current USA and Coralife.
Thanks,
Travis
Thanks,
Travis
