Sunpod HQI Questions

[jrobison]

I have a customer that has a tank built into the wall. They are wanting to add halides to the tank. It is about 4' long and the way it is built in you cant put a 4' light in without removing the tank. So I will either have to use a 36" or 2-24" lights. There is also a width restriction which has led me to the sunpod because it is narrow enough to fit. The 36" would be a little cheaper I think and easier to hang (just one). But I was wondering what the spacing is between the two bulbs. If anyone could help me decide if the 36" would spread the light out enough. I will probably go with the 250 Watt version. Thanks for any info.

[DarG]

Why not just add a couple of pendant style reflectors instead of an actual fixture. A pair of Lumenmax 3's or Lumenarc minis would take up less room than a full length fixture and provide much better light spread with less intense hot spots and more uniform lighting intensity. The Lumenmax 3 is only 11.5" wide and the small Lumenarcs are 13" or so I believe so width probably wont be an issue. If you need narrower, the new Icecap pendants look nice and I think they are narrower. Or the Reef Optix (9.5" wide) or PFO mini (7.5" wide) are a bit better reflectors than what is used in the Sunpod.

How wide is the tank and how deep?

If you are thinking about two 24" fixtures as an option, they are basically pendants anyway so going with something better does make sense. If it has to be the Sunpod, I would go with the two seperate 24" units. Again, the spread is pretty limited in those fixtures. You would be able to get better coverage over a 4Ft long tank with the with the two seperate pendants than a single 3ft because of the flexibility in being able to space the two pendants accordingly. They arent terrible fixtures, there are just better options in some circumstances and this seemed like one of those circumstances. The Sunpods do have the LED lights as well, which are cool.

Just my 2 cents.

[jrobison]

Thanks for the info. The tank is 18" wide, but the way it is framed into the wall I only have 10" to put lights in. I will look at the pendants and the others you mention.

[DarG]

10" ... so you are limited to something like the sunpods or like the PFO mini or the Reef Optix. That also limits you to DE halides which both the sunpod, Reef Optix and PFO mini reflectors use. Well, the PFO minis or Reef Optix are a bit better reflectors but for 18" wide tank the sunpods will work fine. I used those reflectors briefly over my 18" wide 90 (Outer Orbit). Seeing how flourescent supplements are probably out of the question due to space restraints, again, I would go with the best reflectors that I could possibly fit. That's probably the Reef Optix. Also, halide sems like it is probably the best option given the width limitation. It would probably be more difficult to get full coverage of the front and back of the tank packing T5's in that narrow area.

Again, just my 2 cents.

Good luck.

[jrobison]

Thanks for the help man.