Lighting Question

[glaspie69]

I have a question about some ballasts and some bulbs....I purchased a 105gal oceanic show tank, stand and canopy from a gentleman from cedar falls on monday night its dimensions are 30 inches tall 48 inches long and 21 inches wide it included all the piping and a 29 gal oceanic tickle filter(lil giant return pump included). Unfortunitly when he had the tank set up it was fresh water only...so i ordered 2 250 watt ARO retro kits ....they include the ballasts reflectors and i also ordered 2 10k XM bulbs ....do any of you out there have any comments on whether this was a wise purchase....from what i have heard they are fairly good ballasts and i've also heard that the XM bulbs are decent for the money ......any info you have is welcome good or bad

Jason Glaspie

[Coralfreak]

Hi Jason,

I have no personal experience with the ARO ballast, but I have not heard anything negative about the ARO line, you should be ok there.

The 250W SE 10K XM, did VERY well in a PAR test, a good thing. They are good deal for the money. I am running a 400W 10K XM and have been very pleased with the results. Much less expensive than say a Ushio 10K. You may, however, want to consider adding some actinics, 10K's are somewhat "yellow" looking, the actinics would help balance the color out.

All in all, I would say you made a very good purchase. You should be able to keep most anything in your tank with that lighting setup. If you plan on keeping SPS or clams, they may need to be placed up higher in the tank, 250's wont be able to penetrate far enough into a 30" deep tank.

Allen

[mwood]

You might want to give more detail on the canopy. It may not be tall enough for halides. You may need to modify it to get the halides 10-12 inches off the water. You may also want proper ventalation or you'll need a chiller.

[glaspie69]

the canopy is about 9 inches tall so i think i'll be alright on the height . the back of it is open and i plan on putting fans in ... as for the actinics ....on my 40 breeder i have 4 96 PC's and i'm planning on putting 2 of them in with 03 act. ...when i bought the tank it came with 2 4' oceanic light fixures that run 80 watts each, i just dont want to tear them apart to get them to fit into the canopy with the MH's ...they are way to nice of lights for that.

[faylor]

Have i mentioned lately that i still HATE u for finding such of a deal on that tank jason. Yall gotta see this tank i helped him move it into the truck from the guys house in CF the other day and holy monkeys was that thing heavy:P anyway jason i want more pics just so i can HATE u more:P:P
gimme a call when u get home from school on thursday im off work
peace
Joe