Wondering what lights

[drummerman2003]

well i know i post alot in here, but thats just because i dont trust my LFS anymore... what kind of lights you guys think i should put on my 20 long? i eventually want to be able to hold pretty much all corals... mainly my girlfriend and myself fell in love with BTAs... so something to support that. and in the lower price range. maybe even DIY thanks!

[Scuba Dog]

For a 20 long I would say that a 150 or 250 HQI would be you best bet. With the 250 HQI double end halide bulb, you would be able to keep anything, Including the screaming blue sps, also maximas and coracia clams would be kept no problem, an advantage with clams is that they use up nitrates as well....

[drummerman2003]

any ideas where i can find me one of them 250's?

[jerryc]

Originally posted by drummerman2003
any ideas where i can find me one of them 250's?




www.hellolights.com



U can ask Headhawg7

[Scuba Dog]

Pfo makes a hqi ballast, and there are some electronic ballasts out there that put off less heat and use a little less energy...Ice cap blue line coral value, are a few of the producers of electronic ballasts

[lil'salty]

unless you plan on putting the light on a bigger tank at some point i think the 150 de would be good
be ready for the evaporation

[thedogofwar]

If you wanna go MH, I will sell you mine, I just wanted you to be fully aware of what goes along with it. I see too many ppl jump and buy something and never know what they're really getting into until its too late. Theres pros and cons to everything usually.

these de, se hqi they are talking about are all MH lights.

Like I said, I honestly think you would be better off with something else right now.

Hellolights has a retro or I can show you another way to do 150W VHO for $100. it has a beautiful color and you can keep yourself a BTA with it and many many others. I know a guy in Beebe thats keeping a maxima under VHO but I wouldn't try it.

You're going to need your money for things that are more important than Metal Halide lighting. You're gonna be spending money on test kits,clean up crew, skimmer, water movement, all these things you need before you start keeping those awesome SPS. MH costs and needs are much higher than first meets the eye.

Get some VHO. When you want to upgrade to MH, then add it on to the VHO. The VHO will serve as a dawn/dusk effect and provide great color supplementation to the corals.

I run 150W VHO and later added my 175 MH on my 29. I'm pretty sure I can "keep" anything as far as lighting is concerned. I know you want an anemone, well mine liked to tuck away and hide from the MH and opened under the VHO only. My sun coral does the same.

my .02

[jerryc]

Yep i agree with dogofwar VHO is a good set up for a small
tank I have run it on my 29 for some time it works great for
most everything except the harder sps
softies and LPS love it Actually LPS is one of my favorite

[drummerman2003]

ohhhhhh i didnt know it was MH... im tupid lol

i still dont know much about lights, so when i hear about one, i jump on it tryin to find out info.

[jerryc]

Originally posted by drummerman2003
ohhhhhh i didnt know it was MH... im tupid lol

i still dont know much about lights, so when i hear about one, i jump on it tryin to find out info.


Nop takes time to figure out all the lighting choices out there
MH IS great but not necessary specially if you don't plan
on keeping the harder sps right away

[drummerman2003]

well since my tanks only been up for a bout 2 months, i dont plan on puttin much in it right now...im just tryin to get everythin ready for the future

[jerryc]

Try going to wwwhellolights.com
and just look Around at all the different lights maybe you can
get a ideal about all the different ones available then decide
what you want to start with as for as coral goes softies-lps-sps
after you may have a better Ideal a bout your choices

[headhawg7]

I do know one thing....you will not need much for a 20 long. It is so shallow and 150w DE could penetrate very easy. Even the 175 SE would penetrate easy(the 150 de being a better system(hqi). Try to talk Brandon into selling you his SE 175w setup. That would be plenty for that tank.

[UofAHog]

I would highly suggest a VHO setup for a 20L. Those things are really shallow and a MH over such a shallow tank might cause problems with too much light. Depending on what you are planning to keep it might limit your choices for corals. Lots of the softies and LPS don't like being touched by the finger of God like alot of the SPS do.

These are just my opinions as a guy that really likes softies and LPS.

One last thought: A 20L is 30 inches wide so you will have dim spots at the ends of the tank with a MH.


Matt

[headhawg7]

Very good points. If you did go MH then you could put a 175w about 10" above the water level which should give a pretty good spread. VHO's are nice and I use them but for SPS corals and clams they are a no-no. If you think you might want to go with SPS or clams a few months down the road the buy the MH so you can save yourself the regret and money in the long run.

If you just want softies and LPS and you know for sure you do not want the other light intensive species then go with VHO beacause they will be a hell of alot cheaper to run.

[drummerman2003]

well i would actually like to have a small clam in the future. i think they are pretty cool, and im sure my g/f would love it. i talked to brandon about MH, and after discussion, since i dont want it just hanging above the tank, we figured a canopy to house it would be mega tall. but if thats what it takes to have a beautiful lookin tank, then im willing to chance it.

[Dionaea]

With good water quality, you are going to be fine. You are not going to "over-light" corals as long as you acclimate them to the light. Here is 20L with two 175W pendants. It belongs to jdsabin at nano-reef.com.

This thread shows full tank (http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15733)

This one has links to more pics (http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=17063)

I'm not saying this is the way to go, but don't be afraid of light. Use whatever you want. MH are more versatile than other lights; you can grow anything under the sun (since it the closest we can get to recreating the sun:)). The only time you will kill something with light is when you take it from low light to high immediately or when you have poor water quality and algae grows on it (like non-photosynthetic gorgonians are prone to). Then again, poor water will kill a lot of things! :D

HTH
James

[drummerman2003]

yea, my water i guess is pretty poor, so thats gonna have to be fixed. Do i use distilled water or what? i dont have an RO/DI thingy ma jigger. i like the looks of that tank. thanks for postin it

[Dionaea]

Well, the Wal-Marts here have Culligan water dispensers that are RO filtered, and that's a lot better than nothing. IIRC, distilled water may contain metals from the collection bins, but that may have changed by now. RO won't give you quite as polished of water as an RO/DI combo will, but as long as you are skimming, doing frequent water changes, or both, you should be fine.

JMO,
James

[jerryc]

I Used The culligan water far a long time with out problems

[drummerman2003]

haha i told my mom i needed to get an RO/DI machine, and she cried... because i told her it would cost me over $100. lol she cried... i guess shes upset because ive been puttin all my money in this lately, but thats just because im gonna put it all into my car this summer