HQI Pendants?

[SquidHC]

I have no personal experience with HQI bulbs/fixtures.

I am considering lighting my new tank with an HQI pendant. I want a nice, sleek, modern looking pendant to suspend over my rimless tank.

A few questions/concerns I have are; can a single HQI bulb, with a high end ballast, provide ALL lighting needs of SPS corals? Is there HQI pendants that can provide quality reflection over a 2x2 footprint tank? Are HQI's a quality, viable option for an SPS tank?

Thanks in advance.

 

[streak]

Depends on what kelvin of bulb your looking for.. Yes they can do 2'x2' easy if you find the right reflector.. they must run a uv shielded glass becuse of the design.. And with all MH they get hot.. so that is also a concern you have to look into.. And if lets say you want the type of bulb for maximum growth for corals.. well it may not make the corals look all that good to the eye so many people supplement with actenic bulbs to bring out the colors of the corals better.. Ohh i would like to dissuade you if your going to try to put that over a 20 gallon tank.. it will heat it up way to much... depending on how close it is to top of tank

 

[iwishtofish]

A single metal halide HQI pendant should work fine over a 24"x24" SPS tank, in my opinion, provided it is a quality fixture with a quality bulb.

How deep is the tank? If it is shallow, a 175-watt fixture might be adequate.

Just curious, are you going to have a sump for increased water volume, etc?

 

[SquidHC]

The tank will be 3'x3'x either 20 or 24". I haven't decided yet. I will have a rock island in the middle, roughly 2'x2'. yes I will have a sump.

 

[iwishtofish]

You might want to consider two pendants - or a dual fixture - if you need to cover 36". I'd probably do 250-watt if you are going 24" top to bottom.

 

[SquidHC]

I dont want to cover the whole tank. I want to spotlight an island that is 2x2 in the middle of the tank. =D

 

[SquidHC]

bump

 

[droberts]

you may get better growth and a better look with a t-5 fixture but if your set on a hqi the Hamilton de 150 pendent i have did a nice job above my frag tank until i went t-5. you will just have to look for some thing with the actinic bulbs in it. sunpods are nice but keep in mind that they will heat up you tank so it will need to be hung some how and have a fan run when the light is on. and keep an eye on the temp during the summer my neighbor lost everything in his tank this summer when his 28g aquapod with a 150hqi sunpod heated his tank up to 92 degrees he cane home to white soup. so theres a lot to think about

 

[SquidHC]

Yeah I'm aware of the heat, but I'm not too concerned about a single 250w hanging above an open top 150g tank. I don't want to go T-5's, because the bulb changes are just too stupidly expensive. I was going to try for a single halide, but it's looking more and more like LED's might end up winning out.