MH Combo Solution for a 26 Gal Bowfront????

[mokujin22]

hey all,

been keeping a reef tank for about 2 years now and gotten a bunch of great info from this forum... never posted though. anyway i've been running coralife 2x65W w/ the lunar lights. after having great results with most "easier" corals: mushrooms, zoos, some lps corals, i'm ready to upgrade to a mh setup.

my problem: i have a 26 gal bowfront setup, which has strange dimensions: footprint is approx: 24"x10" (in the rectangular section). i really like the coralife pro setup with the mh/pc combo, but it is 15" front to back and i'm thinking it'll really screw up things aesthetically (glare on the front panel).

so... from searching around the internet, the jebo-odyssea comes up as a compact lighting solution for tanks like mine. however, from this forum, the general consensus is that it is a piece of junk (that requires switching the bulbs right off the bat, rewiring the ballast to run sep timers and eventually switching one or both ballasts). this seems like a more expensive/painful/frustrating process than what i'd like to go through.

anybody have any better solutions? i thought of hanging pendents (similar to the coralife), but thought you need to have some actinic component? should i bite the bullet and roll the dice with the odyssea? how would the wider coralife pro/outer orbit lights affect the overall appearance?

sorry for the long post... thanks for your imput in advance

cheers,
tony.

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi Tony and :welcome:

Lighting choices are very subjective which is why you'll see such a variety of setups and recommendations, but one thing is for sure - you definitely don't need actinics. If you can find a stand-alone lamp that you like the appearance of, something like a single 150 watt DE pendent would work fine on your setup. There are quite a few high quality manufacturers to choose from with such a setup (ie. Sunlight Supply, AquaMedic, Giesemann, etc).

HTH

 

[mokujin22]

thanks Chris,

i was thinking of running a single hanging pendent, but considered the "lack of actinic" issue. if that's not an issue, great!

my other hesitation about the 150 MH pendent was that it would not be much of an upgrade from what i have now (2x65W pc = 130 w). is there truth in this, or does mh pack that more of punch (ie: higher lumen per watt)? can i keep a couple of easy acros/montiporas with this setup?

any color/kelvin reccomendations for an "actinic-less" setup?

would a 250W setup be overkill/heat the water too much?

thanks again,
tony

 

[SnowManSnow]

Check out the pendants from AquaMedic. I have a 250W MH that I love over my 37g reef. It cost about $250.

B

 

[ChrisRD]

IME, depending on what lamp+ballast combination your run, the 150 watt DE can provide much higher irradiance levels than your current PCs. Be sure to use a fixture that has a good reflector design as this is critical to getting the most out of your lighting.

Considering your tank is not that tall, if you plan to keep some of your existing low light corals in the lower parts of the tank with just a few higher light corals near the top, I'd probably just go with the 150 watter. With an open-top, pendent setup you can manage the heat of the 250, but it will probaby be overkill unless you plan to have higher light corals down near the bottom of the tank. Something else to consider is future upgrades. If you think you'll end-up with a larger, deeper tank, or you might eventually want to go with all SPS, getting the 250 watter now will save you the future upgrade costs. If it proves to be a bit too much for your low light corals you can always raise the lamp, or rearrange your rockwork to create some overhangs to provide some shade.

The lamp color is a very subjective thing so it's hard to make recommendations. If you're after something with a blue tint you're likely looking at something in the 14K to 20K range. You have to watch the output levels though, especially with the 20K range - sometimes they can be pretty weak lamps. The 14K Phoenix DE lamps have good output and nice color. They're gotten very popular lately. You also have to consider what ballast you will run on as it makes a significant difference in lamp performance/color.

Check out Sanjay's lighting site to compare spectrums/outputs of various lamp+ballast combinations. Very useful...
http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

HTH

 

[LA-Lawman]

take a look at hellolights current sales.. They have some good deals right now.. a 150w DE pendant for $86!!!

so you could find what u need at a good price. so be patient. if you want to buy a 250w then do some good shopping. dont be rushed.

 

[mokujin22]

thanks a lot guys!

i went and got a 250w Aquamedic from Hellolights.com. Cost me $249. picked out a 15K bulb for it. the guy on the phone, Adam, was super-nice and really helpful in answering some questions that i still had.

i was thinking about the 150 W, but figure it's only a matter of time before i move everything to a bigger tank.

again, i really appreciate all your help.

tony.