Lighting ideas, any comments?

[jgoodrich71]

I have always loved SPS only tanks, but have never really had much luck in the past. Previous experience is that I get the bug to go SPS only, get the tank with a couple of nice SPS, only to have something go wrong and they all RTN. I have my current tank at my office and when I go out of town or sometimes over the weekend, someone messes with the air conditioning and mytank ends up overheating. My current tank is a 65, and I really don't like the tank. It was given to me, so I guess I can't compain too much, but I don't really like the tank. It is too tall for the width.

I am getting rid of some stuff at home and will have the room to bring my 65 home and will eventually move everything into a 60 cube. My question was on ligthing the 60 cube. I have 2 Icecap 250 MH ballast, and 2 VHO ballast. I like the look of 20K MHs but also want decent growth. I was thinking of putting 2 VHO actinic on one ballast, Actinic white VHOs on another, 10K MH on one ballast, 20K MH on the other. Run the VHO actinics 12 hours, the VHO white 10 hours, the 10K for three hours and the 20K for three hours, with both MHs on for one hour.

Would this give me the growth and color? Should I run one type more than the other? Or is this overkill? Oh yeah, I am getting a 1/4 HP chiller to take care of the heat.

 

[JamesJR]

That would look awesome. The 10k and 20k MH combination is an awesome way to go. How deep is the tank? 2 250 watt halides and 4 VHO bulbs sounds like it may be a little stron for 60 but I could be wrong.

 

[jgoodrich71]

It's a 24 inch cube. The 2x250's would only be lit together for one hour. On the current 65, I am running 3 VHOs with 1x250 10K.

 

[carib]

IMHO-I'll put a single 400watt 20k on hqi;run for 8-9 hours.no vho.I also disagree 10k and 20k mix is a good idea.

 

[Serioussnaps]

24 inch cube?

As in 24 inches high? or 24 inches long?

2x250's may be too much intensity IMO

I like caribs idea...id put a 14 K phoenix with a couple of T5 actinics on there!