Opinions wanted, Is this enough light

[breutus]

Okay, I have a 72 gallon BF, I have almost entirely LPS with no plan of going to SPS in this tank.

I have 4x65 PC (2-10,000 2 actinic) and 1x250 MH (14k) the MH is directly over the center so some of the light is blocked by the center brace right down the center of the tank.

I have been contemplating going with a second MH and moving them over each side. Would I see better growth with that or is my lighting sufficient.

Also is a water topoff something that would benefit the tank with keeping it exact SG. I have to fill about four to five gallons every three days.

The coral list,
Anchor
Torch
Frogspawn
CanyCane
Galaxia
Bubble
Brain
Pulsing xenia
GSP
Various leathers
Various zoos
Various shrooms

2 Clams
Several Rbtas/Gbtas

 

[latazyo]

I think you'll certainly be happier with the second MH, but as to whether you have enough...well how's your stuff growing?

 

[breutus]

It depends on which corals, like the brain coral I got about a month ago from a guy that it wasn't doing well in his tank, it has tripled in size. but other things like the Galaxea seems to do nothing and it is even kinda midway in the tank. Same with the anchor corals i have had them in the tank for four or five months and only one of the heads have split but it's not really a lot bigger.

 

[VSpeck]

you will be way happier w/ a second mh you wouldnt believe how much light is being wasted in the centerbrace

 

[pogona]

If you go with a second 250 mh you can get rid of those PC's

 

[VSpeck]

might want to keep the pc's for supliment in color
jmho

also ato's are great. the more stable you keep the tank the better also for the fact its easier.

 

[breutus]

well I definitly wouldn't want to get rid of the PC's, like v speck said I couldn't imagine the tank without actinics

I am thinking I am going to go with a second light more than an auto topoff at the moment, I am just hoping to get an extra boost in growth. I just can't make up my mind which I would rather have

 

[latazyo]

the ATO that I bought was like $30 for the system plus an old MJ1200 I had lying around

pretty insignificant vs price of an MH setup isnt it? or did I miss something

 

[breutus]

LOL Someone is willing to sell me a aro ballast, reflector for 65 and I have extra new bulbs laying around the house that match my other ones so it would be close to the same price

 

[VSpeck]

if its close to the same price i would deffinately get the light
jmho

 

[latazyo]

ok, then that's a good deal...I was thinking an all new setup from scratch

 

[dela]

I have a 90g BF. I think it has the same footprint as the 72. The tank looks really cool, but space is really tight. I've been working on the lighting for a while. I've got two 250W MH fixtures and one 96W PC. The lighting seems perfect, but now I can't quite get the hood back on with out having the MH lights too close to the plastic hood. And I'm paranoid of a melt down..... So I'm still tweaking.

If I were you, I would ditch the 250 in favor of 2 150 units. That way you can cram it all in there with out melting the hood... assuming you have one!

I used the Lumark QZ Wedge light fixtures for the MH units (they used to sell them for cheap at lowes). If you go with a 150, you don't even have to gut the fixture like you do to get the 250W lamp to fit. Then you get electronic ballasts with 20'+ remote distances. You mount the ballasts within the aquarium stand and wire everything up cord and plug for easy maintenance and to keep the heat out of the canopy.

That is how I have it. I think I have one more tweak to allow the hood to seat properly over the tank as the frame I built (after pic was taken) to keep the lights off the tank interfere with the hood.

 

[Reeferhead]

Regardless of lighting options, your should remove the centerbrace and replace it with a acrylic strip. There are some threads on the DIY forum. You can even do it with water in the tank, although you'll have to drain it down a bit. I did this on a 28 gallon bowfront I used to have setup, works great and make a huge difference. All you need is a Dremel, some nylon nuts and bolts, and a strip of acrylic.

 

[breutus]

That really doesn't sound like a bad option I am just so freaked out about something like that... I have a good friend that a few years back we did this to a 90 g bf. I obviously think we did something wrong, the second we cut the old brace off we heard a weird cracking sound and less than ten seconds later the whole tank was on the floor. The whole front piece of glass just popped out. Didn't even crack it just came off the sides! I know it can be done though, I know people who have done it on tanks very similar to mine... It just freaks me out a little bit because of witnessing a tank being lost

As for room to put the lights up I think I have a plan to make it work. The only thing you have to do from keeping your hood from melting is anywhere its close enough you have to make a pocket of aluminum foil to disperse the heat. and I have fans running to keep it cool in there. Thanks for the heads up though.

 

[Reeferhead]

Did your friend's tank have water in it?

If you do it with water still in the tank you need to bolt on the acrylic first and then cut out the original center brace. If you bolt on the acrylic underneath the original brace then you don't have to drain any water out of the tank because you can dremmel or even saw it off from above.

Its also important to make sure that the holes you drill match the size of the bolts your using. If the holes are too big then there is room for movement which could result in a cracked tank

 

[breutus]

we some how must have over tightened the bolts either that or there was a crack in the acrylic brace we used because when we went through the wreckage that brace was broke from the bolt hole to the edge and the bolt went straight through the crack

 

[Reeferhead]

ouch!