Lighting Question

D

Dankreefs

I have a 30 gal aquarium with a height of 18in, an my future goal is to have a reef aquarium, I basically want to be able to keep whatever kind of coral I want without worries it has been cycling for almost a month now with 50+lbs of live rock and 40lbs of live sand with a percula clown, a clown goby and lots of hermits and snails prob at least 30 hermits (blue leg,white claws, left handed, an a couple thin legs) an prob at least 40 snails not sure of number or species most were given to me by a friend of mine so long story short I would like to know your thoughts on what light system I should run

Thanks,
Thad
 
I would get a nice T-5 system for that size tank. It will have enough par for a tank that size, you could keep most anything as far as the lighting and not a lot of worries about over heating the tank.
 
awesome, thanks for the help I'm very new to all of this Ive done a lot of reading but have prob covered 1/1,000,000th of the literature out there haha an I'm hooked ;)
 
I also think u would be happy with a metal halide 150 fixture depending on how much u like the shimmer . With the T-5 u get to mix and match lamps until u are happy with the color but to keep " anything " you would need 6 24 in ho bulbs over that tank. I'm still shopping to replace my fixture ( power compact) but I've decided to go halide cause I like the shimmer . It all boils down to what u want and metal halide or a GOOD t-5 fixture you can't go wrong.just rember with metal halide temps rise and evaporation goes through the roof ( I have a chiller in the closet hope it works )
that's just what I was thinkin hope it helps
 
ok if my tank is 30in long should i get a 30in light or will a 24in mounting brackets fit on my tank I have never had a chance to check out how the mounting brackets work

Thanks

Thad
 
With a 24 inch fixture depending on the reflector you may have some darker spots on the ends . It wouldn't be that bad with t-5s but metal halide with a small reflector and mounted low it might be pretty noticeable . As for the legs just get some glass for the top on the ends and spread it out to where the legs will sit on it . I don't know if I explained it well enough so if I didn't..... just ask.
 
@Dankreefs wrote:
well I just got a Current Nova Sundial 96watt 30in w/ the moonlights haha I'm hoping it fits ;) said:
They do make a 30", I had one over my old QT tank... its actually a 4x24W T-5 if its the same model. Its a nice fixture, I liked the built in timer and moonlights, but found that the output wasn't quite enough to keep SPS really happy. Some acros were fine, but the high light ones like Millies didn't really do too well for me, but again, it was a QT and my parms were not always ideal. Just make sure you put in ample flow and focus on keeping good parameters and see what happens. I would start with some of the easier to keep SPS like montipora or something like slimers or validas first. Softies and LPS will do quite well.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top