Anyone have MH's on a 46 Bow or similar 36IN long tank?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have MH's on a 46 bowfront tank or similar?

The tank dimensions are 36x15x20?

If so how do you have them?

In a hood?
Hanging from ceiling?
What type and what wattage?
Do you have actinics with them?

Would dual 150 HQI or 175 watt MH's be too much? What color should I go with 6500K or 10,000K? I would have to make some kind of hood that doesn't look ugly.

I have shrooms and frogspawn in there now, I would like to get some sps and clams eventually.

Sorry for so many questions, just debating to see if it really worth buying them for this tank. The tank has 110 Watts of smartlamp PC's running now and I want more colorful corals.

Thanks

[ March 25, 2002: Message edited by: Rob_Reef_Keeper ]</p>
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[fishfarmer]

Check my tank specs. I love my combo of 175 watt 5500k and 2x28 watt 6700k,7100k PC on my 38 gallon. My hood doesn't fit completely to the back of the tank but is about 8.5" tall by 9" wide. I have the MH on one side of the tank with the two PC on the other side. I have my rocks sloping up toward the MH side, this is where my xenia does great and a porites frag is doing well. I do have a glass between the bulbs and the water and a 4" fan blowing in on the PC side and and exit hole on the MH side. I don't have any heat problems, but am redesigning my hood for a 55 that will house these lights and hope to be able to do away with the coverglass. New hood will be 50" long by 9.5" tall by 13.5" deep.

[ March 25, 2002: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]</p>

 

[whirley]

2 250w iwasaki's over my 30 long gallon tank.

whirley

 

[kcinminni]

I also have the 46 gallon bow and had a hard time finding something that would fit on it. (If you have a canopy it's really hard because the 15" dimension is really only 12"--the 15" is at the widest point.) Anyway, I found a light made by Jalli that was 2-150 watt plus a 55 PC actinic--thought it was perfect. Turned out it ran really hot (both the lamps and the ballasts) and heated the tank too much. Not to mention I was concerned about the ballasts and a possible fire hazard! Ended up that the company said you have to mount it at least 18" above the tank, and you still have the ballast problem. I switched back to 2-96 watt PCs yesterday (also Jalli. it is the perfect size at about 8" wide and has "legs" that raise it above the tank). So far so good. I'm not much on DIY, but if you figure something out, please let me know. I'd like to work a MH into the middle of the fixture somewhere.

 

[DJ88]

I am running a 250W MH and three 36" VHO's on my 33. all are mounted parallel to each other.

 

[docwells]

I have a 46 gallon bowfront tank and I have a 400 watt MH with 2- 28 watt actinic PC bulbs in a hood over my tank. There is a 4 inch fan in the hood. The hood is mounted from the ceiling. I had just PC's over the tank when it was mushrooms and soft coral. I changed to a mixed tank with lsp, sps, clams and fish. That's when I upgraded the light. The light might be overkill, but it didn't cost much more than a 250watt hood and I figure I can use it on my next tank.
Hope this helps

Wellington

 

[BROKER]

RRK,

There is a post of a bowfront in the archives. Someone made a hood and bent a piece of lamenet (?) to match the bow. I am looking for it, when I find it I will post it.


Try www.reefmaniac.com

[ March 25, 2002: Message edited by: BROKER ]</p>

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.

Docwells doesn't the light get blocked by the center brace?

Green Mariner, or anyone have have any pics of the hoods on the 46bow?

I am really debating on this? I dont want to waste money(Live and learn) and I dont want it to look like garbage. Is it really worth it.

Also, I have been reading Bornemans Coral book in reference to upgrading lighting. If I were to change my lighting to MH's the intesity would be a GIGANTIC change and am wondering how to acclimate my existing corals that are used to the 110 Watts with out bleaching them or shocking them to death?

[ March 26, 2002: Message edited by: Rob_Reef_Keeper ]</p>
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[Green Mariner]

Rob, I will try to post a pic of the canopy later today!

BTW,
your signature comes from the Simpsons, the episode where Homer goes fishing for the "General"!

 

[chart]

i just added a 250w 6500k Ice Cap MH to my 45 gal. 36"L x 24"H x 12"D

i needed to build a new hood to move the MH about 8" above the water, the original hood had it about 2-3" and i almost melted the center brace! live and learn...

i do need to add a fan to the hood because the temp swings from 78(no halide) to 82-83 (with halide).

hope this helps!

-chart

 

[Green Mariner]

I have a 46 bow, I built a canopy and bent a piece of 1/8" underlayment. One side is nice enough to put a finish coat of stain on. I run 2 IceCap 250 watt HQI with 10K AB bulbs, I have no problem with heat. I use an IceCap fan in the canopy and a 4 in. 12 volt fan in the sump cabnet. This shares a sump with my seahorse tank that runs an IceCap 150 watt HQI with a 10K bulb, my temp runs about 78, give or take a .5 degree, I also use 2 250 watt WON titanium heaters. This canopy was thrown together about 2 years ago, just so I had some where to put my 2 x175 watt MH set-up, I do plan on building a new canopy that opens from the front, rather than the top.

HTH