Thinking about adding a MH to my 28 gallon bow

[stevearthur]

I have two 55 watt pcs on the tank now and I was thinking about adding a 175 watt pcs, do you thing that it will be too much for a 28 gallon bow with a 20 gallon fuge? And how badly will this effect my evaporation?

Also, any recommendations on kalk??

 

[Will C1]

as long as you keep it 8" above the water it shouldent effect it too bad i have to add 1 gal a day to my 90. this would help stony growth and clams but it will make your coraline go into ressection in the brighter areas. as for kalk i drip a kalkwasser mix in the am in my tank. i works great if you do it right.

 

[stevearthur]

What do you mean by "do it right" this is in terms of the kalk. I was planning on perhaps a kent basic drip system, any suggestions?

 

[Will C1]

yes drip it i use a kent dripper and drip kalk in the amwhen my ph is lowest. mix it according to the directions on the bottle and siphon the good stuff off the top and drip it in. either borrow or buy a ph meter and find out when your ph is lowest this will be the best time to add it.

 

[brandon4291]

Because of your system size, Id say a 175w MH is the single best form of lighting you could use. Not much extra evaporation like Will said if you space it up a little.

There will be no limit to what you can keep in there as far as whats commonly available. If that was the tank I had I would buy a 175w MH Prism Pendant with dual actinics along--can't think of a single better setup to light a tank of that size.

Have fun,

Brandon

 

[Modo]

I have a 250w Iwasaki over a 29g w/ 2 20w NO actinics. The whole setup was a DIY project I did. The bulb is about 8.5" over the surface and I loose about a 1/2 gallon a day. This evaporation is due mainly to the fact that I don't have a sump and I have 2- 4" radio shack fans blowing across the surface for cooling.

My temp stays between 81-83F depending on the time of the yr. In the winter I usually just run one fan and summer both. They are set on a timer to kick on with the MH and then kick off about 20 minutes after the MH shuts off. I also run a heater yr round. I've found that these fans work too well and to maintain a constant temp I must set my heater to the preferred H20 temp to stop fluxuations.

My hood is also entirely open in the back and about 10" tall so none of this is a problem. The fans are mounted in the top back corners pointed in a criss-cross pattern down towards the surface of the H20.

Here are a couple of random pics to show color. These pics are pretty much right on in terms of color rendition. This is also at the bottom of an 18" tall tank. The M. cap frag is actually under an overhang. I totally recommend this setup for smaller tanks.