My Custom Eight

[Jester75]

Just finished building and plumbing my acrylic 8 gallon nano with false wall. I was going to start building a canopy for this thing but I wanted to decided on the lights first. I'm contemplating a 70 watt or a 150 MH in the 14k range with no actinics. What do you guys and gals think for a tank this size? Here are some shots of the tank being water tested.....

Nice shot from the top, love the water rippling

Here is the back with the chambers and baffles

Over flow detail...

And one poorly lit one from the side.

So what do you think? 70 or 150 MH??

TIA

 

[danfrith]

i think deffinantly a 70 watt 20k

 

[mtfish]

Tank looks great. I'd agree, 70w.

 

[Jester75]

Ok, 70 watt it is then! Now I just need to figure out what temp! Since I have never dealt with halides I will be relying totally on you! I would like a nice crisp white with a hint of blue.

 

[Nanomaniac]

I'm not sure if you mentioned this but what species of coral do you want to keep in this tank? A 70 watt metal halide would give you a wide range of options when it comes to keeping coral.

As for lighting if you are not going to be supplementing with actinic I would personally go with either a 14K or 20K. If you just want a hint of blue then a 14K might be what you want. It also depends on what brand of bulb you purchase as each would produce a slightly different tint of blue.

BTW the tank looks great.

 

[Jester75]

I would like to be able to keep just about anything in it! I was also thinking 14k from what I have read.

 

[Henry22]

14k phoenix is probably the best, 20k is too blue, and 10k is too white/yellow.