Getting my first halide. How high to hang it?

[Korrine]

It's a 250w reefstar low profile. Going over a standard 29g tank 30"x12"x by like 16" or 18" tall.

Have zoa's in there right now, would like to add a torch or frogspawn and have some LPS on the sand.

Since this is my first halide, any tips on how high to hang it? I only have 9" of space to work with, though. The tank is sitting on the bottom of a two tank stand so won't have a canopy. I'll hang it from the top of the stand. I'm worried about light shock from current corals, zoa's, paly and gsp. My current lights are PC's and only like 96watts. Was thinking about using bird netting layers to significantly decrease the amount of light getting through and then taking a layer off every other day or so.

So any thoughts.

Thanks in advance :rollface:

 

[sedor]

The bottom of my 250W pendant is about 9" off the surface of my water, but I am thinking about moving it down 3" or so. If you've only got 9" of space just hang them where you can and acclimate how your saying. As long as you acclimate your coral you won't have a problem. Don't worry about going to slow on that part. It will probably take about 2 or 3 weeks until you have nothing under the lights.

And on a side note, make sure you've got glass between your water and the bulb otherwise you will shatter the bulb with the first splash of water.

 

[Korrine]

Thanks for the tips.

The light comes w/a cover over the bulb.

 

[addicted2reefin]

u could also put sunglasses on the corals 8)

 

[Korrine]

lol yea wouldn't that some something :rollface:

 

[atblj5]

I have my light at the 5 to 6 inch above. Have the same corals you have and they do fine. Also had the light as low 3 inches. But to much heat had to raise it.

 

[reefknight]

I have had instances where I could not adjust the height of the lamp to acclimate new lamps. What I did instead was adjust the length of time that the halide was on. Increasing every few days by hour until I was back to my full photoperiod.

 

[transd]

easier way i've done it in the past is to go to lowes or home depot, get some thin wood at the lumber section like 1x2's. Measure the width of the tank... and cut it 2-4 inches longer then the width. Cut a few pieces like this... stack them up evenly on top of the tank... the length of your fixture... every couple of days, I would take one piece out, thus lowering the light slowly... it's not cosmetically pleasing, but works really well and cheap... $5 total for the wood

 

[Korrine]

lots of great ideas

thanks :rollface:

 

[Korrine]

light came... bright as hell and I can't believe how heavy the ballast is :eek2:

 

[Korrine]

I want to change the bulb to a 20k. Compatible bulbs from DRs foster/smith are:

XM 250W 20,000°K

Aqualine Buschke 250W 20,000°K

Or what about an USHIO 250W HQI DE from Aquacave?

Or 250 Watt 20000K Metal Halide Bulb - Blue Life SPS (South Pacific Sunlight), Double-Ended (I think these sound pretty cool)
http://www.marinedepot.com/20000K_Metal_Halide_Bulb_Blue_Life_SPS_(South_Pacific_Sunlight)_Double_Ended_150_Watt_Double_Ended_Metal_Halide_Light_Bulbs-Blue_Life_USA-MB2868-FILTBUMHDEHW-vi.html