question about lighting

[Colin Harbut]

Hi guys,
I have a 37 gallon reef aquarium with 2, 65 watt 50/50 power compacts. One of my PC's is going out, and I was wondering if it would be okay to replace it with a 65 watt actinic only PC. I am obviously not doing any SPS corals, but I was wondering if this would be adequate enough light for corals you would normally see under PC's. I prefer the blue to the natural daylight.

Some of my inhabitants include a sebae anemone, flower pot, mushrooms, polyps, brain coral, etc. By adding a pure actinic bulb, would I be limiting what I could put in my tank? If so, what kind of corals/inverts/etc would these be?

Thanks for your help,
Colin Harbut

 

[tangir1]

Welcome to RDO, C.H.!

If you replace one with a actinic, you should make the other one full daylight, which is not really want you want to do.... the reason for this is that actinic does not give as much output as 50/50 or daylight, and it is not good for your critter unless you want to keep some low light ones.

The anemone will definitely not going to do well in your setup, but I hope it can live as long as possible under the light condition. Anemone needs *lots* of light. The flower pot is another questionable critter... most have problem in reef tank, and can't survive long...

Mushroom and polyps should be fine. The brain coral is on the borderline... but with one actinic bulb, it will definitely *looks* better, but it is not going to do well.

In summery, my opinion is that you should not change to actinic... FWIW.

 

[cdeakle]

You should really think about getting metal halides if you want your corals to be healthy and happy. You can get a cheap starter mh kit online at aquaticlight.com for 75.00.

Welcome to Reefs.org!!!!

 

[Colin Harbut]

Tangirl and 420puff,
Thanks for all the info.
Im going to definitely get one of those mh lamps...sounds like a deal to me. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction,
Colin

 

[Colin Harbut]

Hey guys,
A few more q's for ya,
Im concerened about the heat from these MH lamps. I have read that hanging these heat-radiating bulb six inches above the water surface will make the temp climb way too high, and since I am running a custom fit hood, this is what I would be doing.

WHAT DO I DO???? I want to use a MH but now Im confused as to how I can make this all work out. Should I ditch my hood? What do most ppl do when they buy these retro-fit kits? Put them under the hood or suspend them above the tank w/o a hood? THe more info you can prove me the better...

Thanks again for your help and info. As you can see, Im new to this hobby of reef keeping, so all of your info is truly appreciated.

Colin Harbut

 

[Anonymous]

Most people put thier MH's in a canopy-most of which are custom built to have room/support the distance, and the heat. Most will have a fan to get the air moving, and cool it down a bit.

Some people hang MH pendants over thier tank.

You get to pick which you want. If you're using the stock hood, you *probably* won't have room for a MH. You're going to have to build/buy a new one.

check out the DIY forum, search the archives/FAQ's. THere's lots of Information and pictures here at RDO.

Also, in this hobby, it pays (literaly) to research what you want to do before you do it. Chances are, someone has already made some of the mistakes you would be making. You can learn from thier mistakes, and not have to go back a few steps to re-do someting.


HTH
B

 

[J.Howard]

You don't have to be married to the MH thing IMO. You could always go VHO. You'll get more watts than PC and less heat than MH.
I may have had a fluke, but I kept a flower pot in my 20 for over a year and a half with a couple of NO flourescents. I didn't know at the time the average life span in tanks was a few months when it finally wasted. I felt much better after finding out, but it may have even lived longer had I installed better lights. A double ended MH has a smaller size than a single end mogul for equal wattage, and won't end up as close to the water. Then you could possibly keep what you've got and cool with fans. Only drawback to DE MH bulbs IMO is more $$$ to buy and replace.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Do u have a tank background? If not, buy or paint a blue one. It helps for that "blue look" without sacrificing light output.

 

[Colin Harbut]

Hello again,
My background is black, so I will switch to blue. Great idea!

As for the metal halides, I need some help/advice:

My tank is 30'' long by 20'' high (and 12'' deep). What would you recommend I purchase from this site under the retrofit kits page? http://aquaticlight.com/store.html

If I order a MH from that site, would I have to order a reflector as well, or is one even necessary if its under an oak hood? I found a nice hood that I will be switching to and I think that just installing this MH w/ 2 fans would be my best bet. Any advice/suggestions?

Thanks guys,
Colin

 

[Mikef1]

I am probably stirring up a big issue but J howard said that VHO put off less heat than MHs. I disagree on that, if you have 500w of VHO and 500 watts of MH. The Mhs wont put off anymore heat it just seems like that because they are distributed over less space and are actually more efficient and intense in the long run.