lighting for a 20 long... i havent done this for a few years

[lsvagabond]

Hello all. I am the new caretaker of a 20 gal long nano reef that was freecycled to me last weekend. It has a decent chunk of live rock, sand, red mushrooms, snails, crabs, a PJ cardinal and a bubble anemone. The hood on it right now is a 2 bulb 64 watt total PC setep that was fairly sloppily jimmy rigged together. I am looking to upgrade the lighting but not quite sure the best route for all of this now n days. several years ago i had PCs on a 55 gal reef but was not trying do do much other than easy anemones. I have found the 'lunar aaqua light" for $135 that has 130 watts, fans, fits my 30" tank and has two lunar moon lights... As I look around though I notice talk of VHOs T-5s and Metal Halids.. are any of these other options somthing you would suggest or will the lunar be a good choice? I dont aspire to clams or SPSs< i would just like to have options open as far as the rest of stuff goes.
Thanks
mike

 

[bcoons]

Well, I went through the same thing a couple of months ago. See this thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=772962

A lot of info in that thread. As you will see on page 2, I went with the Current USA SunPod MH.

 

[dantodd]

Well, you could always go to MH but you won't need them unless you are keeping real light loving hard corals or some of the more difficult anemones.

If you want softie corals, fish, and/or easy to keep anemones like Bubble Tips Anemones then PC is your best bet. (VHO and T5s don't usually come in 30" fixtures)

I keep some light loving corals (bought cheap browned out corals to try) under 220w of PC in my 20L tank. I built my own canopy for less than the $130 that a 135w PC fixture will cost but it doesn't look quite as nice either.


BTW: I think that a 20L makes the perfect nano-reef. It has a lot of room with not too much depth so you get good light penetration and lots of swimming room. Really is the ideal tank.

 

[lsvagabond]

Oh man... just when i was thinking the standard PCs would do... sigh. That sun pod looks mighty tempting but also mighty pricey. Any other strong PC supporters out there care to voice up?

Dan... did you include any moon lights in that price for the DIY 220 watt PC hood? got a pic of it anywhere? Also curious how that worked with the heat in a 20 gal. I agree that it is a nice tank style. When i got rid of my 55 gal i swore when i got got back into things i would not do less than a 90... but the layout of this 20 long stole my heart, i think it will work well with whatever light i give to due to it's shallowness.

 

[dantodd]

Well, I made a full canopy. One thing I would do differently is add a real reflector instead of the ghetto tin foil.

The price was:
1X2 wood: $3
white board skin: $12 (I think)
workhorse7 ballast: $35
4 55w bulbs: $66
4 endcaps: $20

Now that I add it up it's about the same as the fixture but the light is much better.

Moonlights would be about $10 to $15 more depending on what you have to pay for the transformer.