25.5W per gallon; crazy?

[SaltyDog]

My 20 gallon needs more light than the 110W of PC on it right now. In 3 months or so I'm setting up my 120 with 2 400W MH's so I don't want to spend the $200 on a 175W halide for the 20 and then put it away until some other date. So a dumb idea that just popped in my head is use one of the 400W halides with the 2 PC's (blue) for now and then when it's time for the 120 I already have the lights and the corals and fish are already way more than aclimated to it. This is probably a bad idea but I thought I would run it by everybody first.

Now that I think about it, this is one of those misleading watts/gallon things. Only the distance from the halide is really important right?

Beau




[This message has been edited by SaltyDog (edited 04-30-2000).]

[Larry M]

Are you talking about a 20 high or a 20 low? If it's a 20 low you may have to mount that baby a good ways from the tank to avoid overheating it. I would give it a shot though.

------------------
Larry M

See my tanks at Northern Reef (http://www.reefcentral.com/northernreef/index.htm)

[Bubafat]

Ya, i had a 175 halide plus 84w of pc on my 10 gallon before i upgraded to a bigger tank. Watch out for overheating, that's the biggest reason why i upgraded, i had a 6-9 degree fluctuation every day and my fish and corals didn't like that. so i had 25.9 w/gallon, it was great during the winter cause i just opened my window but in the summer when my mother didn't think it was hot enough for AC my room would cook, it'd be like 87 degrees in my room, i could've made a sauna out of it. good luck, but be careful and don't shock them at once.
buba

------------------
Have fun and happy reefing. "The goal in life is to reach pure happieness." Aristotle

[SaltyDog]

I really didn't expect to get these kinds of replies on this topic. The tank in question is a 20H. I'll give this more serious thought since some of you think it is actually not crazy.

[Yam]

Go for it,... if you have a plan to fight the temperature and salinity swings. No sense buying lights twice, right :) Maybe you can just leave the halides on four 2 hrs. a day, simulating high noon, and the pc's as usual, for the next few months until your 120 is setup. I envy you, being in the position of upgrading so large.

Danny

------------------
http://www.ereefers.homepage.com

[Yam]

P.s. You're only going to use one of those 400W mh over the 20H right? Otherwise, thats some serious lighting you've got there :) I just reread my post, and that should be "for", not "four". But, if you are going with pfo dual ballast, I am not sure if you can control them independently, so you better check up on that.

Danny

[Ewan]

I can't see anything wrong with it. Hopefully you'll be using a pendant so you can get the lamp an appropriate distance from the tank.

E.

[jdthomas]

What are you keeping in that tank?? If its sps corals and the like, I personally dont think you can get too much light. I have gone from thinking 175watt mh was bright, to thinking that it is as dim as a candle. Every tank I own could use more light. I have something like 2000 watts of lighting in my living room, and I still think the tanks could use 'just a little more' :).
If the tank inhabitants are healthy under the lights you have, it would be easist to wait for the change. They may not grow any, but if the current light is enough they will be fine.
I think the 400 would be fine though, just move it up like has been suggested. If it was possible to hide another container, I would probably add a sump in a dark, cool location to help with the temp swings. Watch your evaporation though.

[simon]

i have a 400w MH 65k on my 30 long. i wouldnt go with anything less than that for any of my tanks. wll, cept maybe a 5 gal :). anyweays, the 400 is mounted 8 inches off the surface and im actually thinking about adding another for a total of 800watts of beautiful MH lighting over a 30 gallon reef. one bulb just doesnt have the span for a 3 ft tank.
simon

[Minotaur15]

Again,

Been there, done that, loved it, reccommend it. ;)

------------------
Dan - minotaur15@hotmail.com
http://www.einsweb.com/minotaur15/

[SaltyDog]

I have a water top off unit so salinity swings aren't a problem. Have the sump hooked up in an open air area, not enclosed under a stand. The stand is a flimsy metal stand that I barely trust but it hasn't let me down yet. The sump doesn't even fit under the tank. I was thinking about using the halide 10hrs a day but like Yam said, maybe I'll only leave it on for 2-4hrs or so. The light will be built into a hood, not pendent but it will be open back and possibly vents in the top. It will be a PFO ballast and only using one of the lights was a question I was going to ask also. I don't know if only one can be used or if both have to be on. Or maybe I could just not put one lamp in or just not hook up one of the outputs from the ballast. Would that cause a problem? The 120 is a perfecto tank and measures 5x1.5x2, I bought it for a pair of Oscars about a year ago right when I was beginning my first salt tank. Needless to say I got tired of trying to keep their water clean and turned it into a community tank. Then I got tired of freshwater all together and now it is going to be my reef tank. Eventually. It'll probably be a bunch of water and a mound of rocks with some corals until 2001. Anyway, looks like I'm getting the lights a bit early. Thanks.

Beau

[jdthomas]

Simon, your lighting reminds my of that old favorite, Disco Inferno. BURN, BABY BURN!! :D

[DougL]

SaltyDog;

Just don't go 14W/G on the 120!
:)

DougL

------------------
Email: dougl@speakeasy.org
Alt email: douglxyzzy@netscape.net

Homepage sites.netscape.net/douglxyzzy/homepage (http://sites.netscape.net/douglxyzzy/homepage)

[SaltyDog]

Man, I'm already considering buying 4 400's for the 120 :)

[Rick O]

SD,

Mount a fan so that it blows across the surface of the water. The evaporation should help keep the temperature down.

Rick