My new light...

V

vest0830

Premium Member
Ok, as we discussed last night, I need a new light desperatly. The 36" plain 'ole flouresent light over the 17" cube just isn't cutting it anymore. Heres my thinking:

The tank dimensions are 18x18x18

The tank sits on our counter/bar area which has cabinets above the tank. (heat issues)

this is known: Im going to build a canopy for above the tank. What goes inside the canopy is what i'm wondering about. Also, I only have about 8" to work with to build a canopy.

Option #1
Im thinking about just going with a compact flouresent retro fit kit which is a single 50/50 96w bulb and I could build in some moon lights. Pros: I will probably only ever keep softies in the tank, so these lights would be perfect for the tank. I dont think heat would be much of an issue with these lights. I am still planning on running a fan in the hood, but I dont think the heat would be an issue. Im also concerned with the heat because of the cabinets above the tank. The con/question, will the spread of the light be enough to cover the entire tank?

Option #2
ebay MH retrofit kit Now this light I wouldnt have any issues one bit with what kind of corals I put in the tank. The spread of the light wouldnt give me any problems. But I am worried aobut the heating issues that might come with this light. Am I going to be able to mount this light high enough over top of the tank to not have any issues? (I only have about 8" to work with).

Which would you go with? Right now im a little stumped on which way to go. Halide or PC?
 
In your case I would go with two of the PC retrofits. It will provide even coverage without the heat issues. You also might be able to keep some LPS and possibly SPS if kept up high.
 
I also just noticed, its accually 4 bulbs. So 4 bulbs spread over the tank might be alright. I just saw that...
 
I would go with the Coralife Aqualight T-5. I just bought a 36" for my sump for $50 new. Comes in different sizes. Only 1" thick. No heat. You can PM this guy Tom on NJRC. His screen name is mott768. His wife is a dist. for Coralife.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7181168#post7181168 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by michaelm2431
I would go with the Coralife Aqualight T-5. I just bought a 36" for my sump for $50 new. Comes in different sizes. Only 1" thick. No heat. You can PM this guy Tom on NJRC. His screen name is mott768. His wife is a dist. for Coralife.
Click to expand...

I just googled it....isn't it about the same thing that the pet-box has? :confused: thats what I already have right now. just a little long. :p
 
ahh...lol.
I thought you were local.

The petbox is a pet "department store" here in Okinawa.

I just googled it, and just about everything goole returned was "go tek" and tek is gonna run me some serious $$, which I don't have at the moment.
 
The only thing different with the Tek is, each bulb has it's own reflector. The aqua is still a T-5 . So any info you get from the Tek is the same, without the heafty price.
 
Well, I think I found my ultimate solution. Ive looked at this set up for a long long time.
K9's thread in the nano section

He has roughly $100 in his VHO light set-up and he kept pretty much everything I will ever keep in my tank. Now the down side to it is that they only have 24" lights, so I will still have some hang over, but I think I am just going to have to live with it. (plus, hopefully I outgrow this tank fast and need to upgrade). So worse case, I have a hood that extends about 8" past the tank. thats 4" on each side, I think I can live with that. Also, if you read in the thread, he started with a acitic and 10k bulbs, then converted to a 50/50 bulb instead of the acitic. I will probably get the 10k and the 50/50 as well.

Heres a link to where he bought his retro-fit set-up
 
I have 2 50/50's + 2 acitic on my 55gal. Heres the coloring. The only thing I cant grow is some SPS's. Softies love it. LPS's love it. I'm testing the T-5's to see how the SPS's like it. You know you'll want an upgrade in tank size as soon as you're things start growing out, so bigger is better. Mike
SaltWaterTank290.jpg
 
Hey Frank,

Your lighting situation looks promising. I'm sure you have already thought of this but I didn't see it mentioned. What length of bulb are you going to use? If you are going to retro fit your canopy you could go diagnolly and get 24" bulbs, ya know the whole pythagorean theorm deal. It works out to be 25.5" corner to corner. I would think about doing dual 75W VHOs going one way and then actually criss crossing the bulbs and going the other way, making a lighted X. With that kind of light in your cube (300W) you would be able to keep pretty much anything.

I noticed 24" T5 are only 24W so if you are worried about heat build up and power consumption back in the states you might want to go that route and you can still get 100W of light into your cube but with 18" of depth I would personally do dual VHO actinic corner to corner and a 150W HQI MH pendant and a 10K bulb. I really love the way MH looks though and since I have gotten mine and seen the way my corals react to the light from the MH I'm a believer. Just some food for thought I guess. Good luck with your decision and if you need help with the retro fitting let us know.

Josh
 
Just remember if you go two 24" VHO diagonal, both bulbs side by side measure 5.5 inches so keep that in mind. I suppose you would almost be better off with a single MH and suppliment with a couple cheap PC on the sides of the MH.
 
after spending all day thinking about it, I mention it to my wife, and this is exactly what she said....... :lol:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7185928#post7185928 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffb3t
Just remember if you go two 24" VHO diagonal, both bulbs side by side measure 5.5 inches so keep that in mind. I suppose you would almost be better off with a single MH and suppliment with a couple cheap PC on the sides of the MH.
Click to expand...

geeze....IDK.
 
well, the plan is that hopefully once the new light gets bought then my corals will grow out of control like Jeff's and I will NEED to get something bigger anyways. I already asked about just selling the cube (we just bought 3 weeks ago) and getting a slightly bigger tank so we dont have these light issues, and that idea got shot down REAL quick.

So IDK, I think a halide will just be easier...
 
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