Oh please, just basic advice on lighting???

[bobbie]

I have a 30" 37gal. Xhigh tank with live rock and a few fish doing well, but just basic lighting. 8) I want to upgrade to something that will allow some low to medium light polyps or soft coral possibly in the future. I do like the look of the all blue actinic lighting part time, so would like a system to allow two cord/timer set up. I am growing macroalgae in a refugium and will be placing some in the main tank eventually, probably mounted so that it can be removed and renewed periodically in the refugium if it needs/ has been nibbled on :lol: . Please keep in mind simple, reasonable cost, (please no "rocket science" :? required), and good product. Thanks for your help!!!! Bobbie

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to reefs.org, bobbie.

Power compact fluorescents. The macros can be grown under normal output fluoros fairly well (although, IIRC red varieties are like red colored houseplants and may need more intense lighting), but usually power compacts (a.k.a. pc's) can do the trick for you.

Simple enough? Oh.. I do believe it's possible to end up spending the same amount of money on pc's as on metal halides (MH).. <shrug>

 

[Len]

I'd go with a 4 x 24" (either 55 or 65W per bulb) PowerCompact setup too. You may be able to get away with 2 bulb PC setup, but you'd be better served with 4 bulbs.

That should be pretty affordable and nice and simple I know how daunting reef lighting can be.

Oh ....

 

[down&amp;dirty]

I just recently purchased a PC setup of ebay for really cheap. Less than $100 for a 48inch hood with 4 55watt pc bulbs included! They also had many smaller setups available and I have seen some really good looking VHO/metal halide retrofits there also. Of course that would basically mean you could keep anything. The PC's are doing a good job in my tank with polyps and mushrooms.

 

[meinkfr]

We just purchased a CustomSeaLife Moonlite Fixture. It has 4x65Watt bulbs. 2xActinic &2x10K bulbs. It also has a low intensity moonlite in it. Makes the tank look really neat at night. They are available in many different sizes.

 

[bobbie]

Thanks for your help everybody!!!!
I am very interested in the moonlight fixtures myself, I just got a new Fosters & Smith catolog last night and they had a special on them. I think the 2 x 65 + 2 x actenic was about $168? How's that sound? And I will get another $5 off for first order should ship at aprx. $12 I think. I will look a bit more though. The heat and high cost of bulbs for the metal Halides has put me off but gotta love those cool wave reflections, Huh 8) !!!
Bobbie

 

[Archmage]

Bobbie,


Actually, if you set it up right, the MH's usually don't heat up the tank as much as the PCs. It's funny but my old PCs would heat up my tank by as much as 5 degrees simply because I had no clearance between the top of my tank and my lights. With MHs, you have about six or seven inches between the tank and the lights which allows a lot of the heat to dissipate. My tank actually stayed cooler with MHs. That plus the shimmer lines was the final pluses. As for the cost, you will spend either way, this hobby is a major financial commitment.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok.....let me take a shot at this.....That aquarium is about 23 inches deep and 30 inches long. I would hang one 250 watt MH Pendant over it if I could afford it. This will light up the majority of the tank and their would be a bit of fall off on the 3-4 inches on each side but I think it would look real cool.