NanoReefWanabe
11/26/2006, 09:34 AM
hi guys i have a coral life PC ballast (currently with two 24watt PC bulbs in it {1 10K the other actinic}) that i am retro fitting into the canopy i am building with a 70 watt Metal halide over my 20 gal...i want to switch them to a 50/50 and actinic, or two actinic, since the metal halide should give me plenty of 10K..
my question is while i was taking apart the PC canopy i noticed that each ballast says it can handle one or two t5 bulbs provided that the overal combined wattage doesnt exceed 35 watts.
so my question is, would it be safe for me to use 2 32 watt PC with these ballasts, as opposed to buying 24 watt...
the lights are square pin connectors and most of the 24 watt bulbs i find are str8 pin...
both the 32 and the 24 watt bulbs are 12.5 inches long, so there is no size difference, just the extra 8 watts..
the reason i ask is i would rather have brighter lights if i could, and on top of that the 32watt lights are more readily available at my LFS..i dont plan on keeping anything overly difficult right yet as i am just starting into salt...but i would obviously like fish and some corals (softies though) like shrooms and maybe some of those yuma's i keep seeing beautiful pics of, possibly some zoa's too...i would really like a clam too but that is down the road..at any rate it is going to be a very long build on a relatively small reef tank..
thanx for the input and info guys..this site has both been detreimental and beneficial to me...a double edged sword if you will, since everytime i read and gain more and new info i am more intigued, it becomes detreimental to me now since i started a tank build and the bank book and wifey are hating me for it...LOL they will both love it later though...
my question is while i was taking apart the PC canopy i noticed that each ballast says it can handle one or two t5 bulbs provided that the overal combined wattage doesnt exceed 35 watts.
so my question is, would it be safe for me to use 2 32 watt PC with these ballasts, as opposed to buying 24 watt...
the lights are square pin connectors and most of the 24 watt bulbs i find are str8 pin...
both the 32 and the 24 watt bulbs are 12.5 inches long, so there is no size difference, just the extra 8 watts..
the reason i ask is i would rather have brighter lights if i could, and on top of that the 32watt lights are more readily available at my LFS..i dont plan on keeping anything overly difficult right yet as i am just starting into salt...but i would obviously like fish and some corals (softies though) like shrooms and maybe some of those yuma's i keep seeing beautiful pics of, possibly some zoa's too...i would really like a clam too but that is down the road..at any rate it is going to be a very long build on a relatively small reef tank..
thanx for the input and info guys..this site has both been detreimental and beneficial to me...a double edged sword if you will, since everytime i read and gain more and new info i am more intigued, it becomes detreimental to me now since i started a tank build and the bank book and wifey are hating me for it...LOL they will both love it later though...