Nano lighting & flow

[autofish]

Folks,

I'm setting up a 20g (long) nano and have some questions.

1. How much lighting should I use? LFS puts 65w MH bulbs over their ~6g nanos. I currently have a 3g nano with 18w of 50/50 lighting and am happy with growth, etc. Should I stick with 6 watts per gallon, putting 120 watts over the 20g, or should I use more?

I don't intend to grow difficult things. I want to keep happy my BTA & a few easy, soft corals (small mushrooms, zoos, starbursts, etc).

2. Any thoughts on flow? Plan is dual corner overflows & dual returns, with a third (smaller) pump moving water through a rear mounted fuge (draining into tank). What size pumps should I buy for the returns? I was looking to stick with MAG since I've had good luck with their larger pumps in the past.

Thank you for your input!

 

[autofish]

Bad form to reply to my own post, but I'm doing it anyway:

I'm thinking 300 watts of lighting might be the way to go. Would this be too much? Looking like a 24" 4 Lamp VHO kit may be a good route. This should be considerably less heat than MH, right?

Another option would be a pair of 150w MH bulbs, however, I have about 6" clearance off the top of the water for bulbs. Is this too close for MH?

 

[waynemk]

I would think heat would become a serious issue with that much light but I have no first-hand experience with halides over such a small tank. I have a pair of 55 W actinics over my 25 and I'm very happy.

What do you want to keep in the tank?

 

[DarkXerox]

You could probably fit t5's onto this length tank. VHO imo is an outdated technology and are basically just overdriven T12 tubes that only hold their color for a good 6 months. T5's are excellent in keeping heat down and putting out PAR. A few of the tanks of the month here run T5 exclusively.

As for a halide, depending on how high you plan on having it, it should not be a problem. I have a 250w over my 29g and heat isn't an issue except for the hottest weeks.

 

[autofish]

Hi folks,

Well, I really just want to keep my anemone, a pair of clowns, and various easy corals. Right now I have some small mushrooms, starbursts, and a little green & brown "lilly" looking thing. I'd like to add some zoos & a few other basic corals, but nothing difficult. I don't need a clam or any of the hard corals, etc.

I'm thinking I'll put 4x24" 55w CFs on it. That'd be a little over 10 watts per gallon, should be plenty of light to do almost anything, right?

Thank you!