Is 150 watts too much for my 12 gal?

[slowhand383]

Im upgrading the lights on my 12gal JBJ. Would 150 watts be too much for my corals? At the top of the tank there are zoas about 2.5" below the surface and I dont want them to get sunburned or overheat. Other than the zoas I have mainly LPS, although I would like a clam or maybe try some sps. There is two fixtures I have to choose from that I think would be best for my nano because I can finaly eliminate the hood:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=13922&N=2004+113352
http://jbjlighting.com/sys_k2_viper.html
I like the Coralife fixtue best because it has a fan, however, JBJ has a 70 or 150 watt bulb to choose from but comes without a fan. Also the caralife is only several inches smaller than the perimeter of my tank. Being so big it would probaly have to be alot closer to the water surface to prevent lighting the whole room instead of just the tank, thus raising the temp. I have never used any metal halides before so I dont know what to expect. Which should I choose?

 

[cherbub]

i do believe they make 70 watt halides for nanos, check out those, i think they have them on www.nanocustoms.com

 

[cherbub]

oops sorry didnt see is in the picture, i would personally go with the 70, you would have over 5 watts per gallon halides with just that, with the 150 you would have about 12+ watts per gallon halides, wayyy to much for zoos to be at the top...

this is just my opionion though, i may not be right

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

i have 11.2 watts per gal and i want to add another 100 MHwatts to the tank. I think a 150 watt would be good as long as your put zoos toward the middle of the tank. i'm sure there iwll be shady spots too where lower light corals could go.

 

[ratimpulse]

If the zoos are acclimated to the light like slowly brought up to the top I dont see a problem witha 150 watt. But I think a 70 would be better over a 10 gallon or 12 gallon. I have a 150 over my 29 and it looks awesome i had it on my 10 and i really didnt like it. I had heat issues in the water.

 

[slowhand383]

The JBJ 70 watt doesnt have a fan, wouldn't that shorten the life of the bulb? Im not too sure if I trust the design of JBJ products after all the tank cracking issues. Although it is JBJ and I have a JBJ tank. It would probaly fit better than other brands.

 

[ycrazyy]

I agree with cherub, you should check out www.nanocustoms.com, they make a hood with a 70w MH in it for the 12g cube. I think it's actually cheaper than the lights you are looking at too and you don't lose the aesthetics of the tank by taking the hood off.

 

[aural]

Fans arent in halide setups to protect the blubs, they are there to keep air circulating over the aquarium.

Halide bulbs actually work MORE efficently the hotter they run.

but as far as the question at hand, i personally think that 70w would be plenty over a 12g tank. You could keep SPS, clams, etc without running the risk of spazing out lower light corals.

 

[Steve973]

Well, that depends on the type of sps. I doubt that acropora would appreciate 70 watts, but montipora would be okay, and you'd want to keep a clam higher up. I have 250 watts over my via aqua 18, and even with that intensity, acros definitely need to be closer to the bulb.

 

[aural]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6943974#post6943974 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Steve973
Well, that depends on the type of sps. I doubt that acropora would appreciate 70 watts, but montipora would be okay, and you'd want to keep a clam higher up. I have 250 watts over my via aqua 18, and even with that intensity, acros definitely need to be closer to the bulb.

you're on crack dude. a 12g nano cube is about 10" deep once you put some sand in it. you could put a clam on the bottom of the tank and whatever SPS you wanted on the rockwork and 70w would do you right and it wouldnt boil the water out of your tank.

I have acros 18" deep in my 75g under a 150w and they are growing like crazy.

You have some misconceptions when it comes to lighting needs.

 

[Steve973]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6944715#post6944715 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aural
I have acros 18" deep in my 75g under a 150w and they are growing like crazy. You have some misconceptions when it comes to lighting needs.

Hey, if you say so, then it *must* be true. Anyway, let's see some pictures of the acros that are 18" deep under 150 watt halides. Let's see their color. 150 watt halides do NOT produce enough PPFD at eighteen inches to have great acros.

 

[aural]

here is a blue tort from 3-4 months ago

here is the same piece from a few weeks ago

another random piece, dont have a before, but the color and growth are still awesome.

consider yourself served.

 

[ratimpulse]

Also it may be different types of acros... Also the clams will usually place themseleves where they want to. not where the owner wants it to usually. I have a 150 over my 29 and I plan to make it all SPS. And if im not mistaken isnt it also the kelvin rating of the bulb.

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

Hahaha Makes me feel better about only having a 150watt MH

 

[Poorcollegereef]

I have 150w coralife over my 20L and I have zoas about 3-5 inches from the surface and they are doing great! The 20L is only about 10 inches deep. The only thing I would worry about is the heat from MH fixtures on smaller tanks so you would need a fan. If you are looking to upgrade anytime in the future, then go with the higher watt. In any case, I highly recommend the cloralife/aqualight fixture and I dont think it would be overkill as long as you keep an eye on the temp

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

I have the coralife pro fixture over my tank and i like it alot, it has fans, plus it has more than just it halides. Mine is 280watts total

 

[DavinD]

I went through this same discussion in my head when it came time to upgrade the lights on my 12 gallon. I ended up going with the 150W Coralife Clip-on fixture. This fixture ended up heating up my tank to about 86 degrees.

I then bought an IceCap 4" fan and mounted it to the top of my tank. This brought the temp down to 74-75. The fan was actually cooling better than my 50W heater and the MH light could heat the water!

I then ended up buying a temp controller to turn the fan off at 78 degrees so that the fan and heater don't fight each other. All is good now. I'm stable at 78-79 degrees.

I will have to carefully monitor my temp because if my fan or temp controller ever breaks, my temp would be out of control in less than 4 hours.

I just stumbled onto this forum and plan on posting a thread soon to outline what I went through when building my nano.

 

[slowhand383]

I will probaly end up going with the 70watt. Will the 14k bulb make my corals glow? (I mean really glow)

 

[aural]

14k isnt going to make them glow like a 20k will. your corals will grow faster under the 14K, but if you are looking for the glow look, you are going to want to go with a 20k bulb.