Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

I was wondering if 175 MH is good for a tank that is 2' deep? should i go with 250? i currently have 3 175 20k MH and 230 50/50 pc on my 120 4'x2'x2'. there is plenty of light but the stuff on the bottom doesnt look as good as the stuff on top. any opinions?

thanks,

dave

250w would be a minimum to be effective near the substrate. If you are not keeping corals that demand higher light then 175w might be adequate.

I agree, I have a 2' tank and I can keep SPS on the bottom just fine. The LPS and softies can just make it on the bottom, but in truth it is too much light for them.

This does bring up a good point though, if you want a mixed tank you need to either shad some areas or have a very deep tank!

my shrooms and star polyps like it on the bottom but my brain seems to have problems. but what about clams? i had my crocea wedged in the rocks about 3/4 up but it didn't like being on the rocks. the small maximas are fine on the rock work though. could the crocea be ok on the sand?

Thanks,

dave

I reaaly think lighting is over-blown in the hobby a bit.


Tank of the month on RC, 160g aprrox 60x28x28 lit by 2 150hqi and 2 28w pc actinics. Been running 9yrs 2.25 watts per gallon!
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-02/totm/index.htm

Joe

I think you can get by with some pretty low lighting if you want. Mostly it is a preference on growth rate. I'm a very impatient man, so I like to kick my lighting up to about 13.6 watts/gal. Some call that too much, but my corals sure do grow!

yeah, like every other hobby, it's the "idea of best" that most people strive for. Bigger has generally always been best..... and in a state where lawnmower races are a scheduled spectator sport, you can expect for damn near everything to be overdone. You might be setting your acro's on fire , but you could stand back and say....

"now that's a fire..... see... that there is 40,000 watts of gennnnuwine synthetic sunlight thare boys...... can't go within 5 feet of the tank without protective body gear and a welding mask..... nobody's got one like that anywhere near here......pass the sunscreen Floyd !"

I am proud to be a recovering member of the "Maybe I Went To Far" Club.

Phisher wrote:I reaaly think lighting is over-blown in the hobby a bit.


Tank of the month on RC, 160g aprrox 60x28x28 lit by 2 150hqi and 2 28w pc actinics. Been running 9yrs 2.25 watts per gallon!
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-02/totm/index.htm

Joe

Corals in general are very hardy, they can and will adapt to many different enviornments. If those same corals were under stronger lighting (like in the wild) they would be three times that size. I do agree that the "lighting" theory is a bit overblown, but most corals naturally grow in high lighting conditions. That is why I believe you can never have too much light.

Put it this way... 13+ watts/gal is alot less than what they have in nature. If you can keep your tank cool enough (mine's at 81F), then more power to us!

I am proud to be a recovering member of the "Maybe I Went To Far" Club.

Another member of that club here. I got cought up in the color game, I have a lovely brown montipora (came out of the ocean brown, always been brown) and thinking maybe it would color up slowly put it closer to the light until it just had enough and bleached. It's recovering nicely on the bottom of my tank. But I learned my lesson and it won't happen again.

[quote="Phisher"]I reaaly think lighting is over-blown in the hobby a bit.


Personally I agree. There are differing schools of thought here. Some want the most color, some want the most growth, and some want a balanced system in which all the inhabitants are comfortable. Not to say there is anything wrong with any of them, but I don't think any one needs to fault someone else for their particular method, and that happens often enough.

Dave, I agree with Scott, if you want higher light corals near the substrate, go with the 250. Just remember if you have many lower light corals it might just stress them. Why not go with 2-250's and a 175? You would then have a good area for your lower light stuff. Never tried it personally, but it seems like a good idea in theory.

Just my 2 cents...

Definately more than one way to skin this cat. I am not knocking high light setup by any means. I am just saying you don't have to have a $1000 light setup to keep most corals. If you are investing big $$ in tricolor acros and torts a big light system would be a worth while investment.

My 2 cents

Joe

I like the current setup I have. I'm running 2 DE 250wt pendants over a 6 ft 135 gal tank. I dont' think it is quite 2 ft deep but close. Because of the center brace I have some decent shading in the middle and far ends of the tank for lower light loving corals. These lights were great on my old 55gal tank. Only time will tell me what my coral will look like in this tank.

I'm getting some very good results so far with a Dr. Mac frag I got back from Scott. Then again its under about 4 inches of water. My ORA tort is about mid tank directly under the pendant and it is encrusting nicely and has a nice purple to it so far. All the cap frags I got from scott are doing great as well and they are at the bottom or mid level in the center where they get shading from the center piece. The two reds and green are glowing while the purple and green/purple haven't maintained too much color yet.

Yeah, but you can piece together a good light scheme for pretty cheap:
Fulham WH7: $35
endcaps and stand offs: $20
URI 110w actinics: $45
M58 ballasts (2): $120
Mogul sockets and reflectors (2):$70
250w bulbs (2): $130

Total: $420

Hey scott where did you get your prices from? local or intrenet? $ 420 sounds excellent to me.

Thanks,

dave

Phisher wrote:I reaaly think lighting is over-blown in the hobby a bit.

100 percent correct