250w or 175w halide for 30 cube?

organism

code monkey
so I'm starting off my first 30 cube display, before this one I had a 125, so I'm wondering about the differences in halides for a tank this small. I'm mainly going to be doing sps on top and lps in the middle and bottom, some nice light loving zoos in there too. would a 250w be overkill on a tank this size? I'd like to have enough light for the sps without having to worry about it, along with enough for a maxima or two (or 3) on the sandbed, but also trying to keep the heating issues down to a minimum. also, I'll be going with a skimmerless system using a dsb, and an ecosystems hang on sump thingy in the back, any experience with skimmerless and sumpless on a tank this size?
thanks much in advance
 
I just put a 150w DE on my 20. I think the 250 would be fine, but you'll probably need some fans to keep the heat down.
 
I have a thread on this forum and you can see pics there, but Im running a 30 cube with a 250 watt MH set up. I love it. I would have regreted going any smaller. I like the fact that there is not one coral I have to worry about keeping. The only bad thing about the 30 cubes is there arnt much in the supplemental lighting department for us. I run a 14K pheonix bulb and it give beautiful color. It also gives out a great PAR so I dont have to worry about coral growth. Just be careful about how close to the water you mount the light. I have mine about 5 in from the water, some people say thats way too low but my water never goes about 81 so im not too worried.
 
I was wondering the same thing, I'm planning a 29 tall setup. Will I have any worries on to much light for my corals, as far as them getting "burnt". I would have it in a canopy with a couple of fand to keep the temp down. I might get a chiller to. One more thing, what kind of fans do you all recommend for a canopy with either 175 MH or 250, and how many?
 
thanks much to everyone for your input, I figured 250w would be much better, since it's easier to train corals to get used to more light than to train sps to get used to less light, guess I'll have to get a nice sized fan just in case :D
 
I was really scared of having a heat issue in my cube, So when I put it together I installed a box fan inside the stand that blows straight down into the sump. It actually will lower the tank temp 10 degrees if left on for more than an hour or so. Go with 1 med. clamp fan and your tank should stay cool.
 
Back
Top