30 gallon cube setup, Lighting?

[tfetter]

I want to do get one of these tanks, but I am still in the planning stage of tank ideas. I wanted to get different inputs of equiment to use (Since I respect your guys opinions). The tank would be an Oceanic 30 gallon cube measuring 20.5"L x 18.5"W x 21"H, I already have a Remora protein skimmer wtih the mj pump. My main concern is lighting.
I do not know what to go with I already have a 175mh pendant which would be 5.8wpg.(Enough?) I plan on starting out slow with the corals not quite sure what I want to keep just yet, but I do know I want to keep clams which is the reasoning behind the mh. I just would rather do the lighting right the first time. Going to also put an titan 150 chiller on there as well because I live in the desert.
_Just looking for as many ideas as possbile, Thank for the help._

[vthondaboi]

Since you have a chiller and if electricity isn't too much of a concernt hen I'd go ahead with a 14k 250W or a 20k 400W MH.

[sevise]

My 30cube is now about 3-4 months old. I have a 250MH pendant and a pair of 32W Sunpaqs as a suppliment. 21"H is getting to the limits of 175W IMHO.

I made the mistake of running a 20K with 2 32W double actinics, its very blue, I have a 10K bulb is on its way.

[Purple Haze]

wpg is played out.

If you must run that 175, run a 10k bulb. If not, a single 250 14k would do nicely as would a 150de 10k

[tfetter]

Thanks everybody for their input and sevise for the picture. You guys help out a ton. Keep em coming!
So it sounds like I should just run a 250mh. Does any have a particular brand they just love, ballast or pendant style. I also have not bought the titan 150 chiller yet, but I wanted to know if anybody out there has this model or brand and has had good luck with it. It's cheap and I am on a budget!
Sevise when you get your 10k bulb you'll have to keep me posted with pics.

[sevise]

It should of been here already but MarineDepot messed up the shipping, instead of Next Day they sent it Next Week. I'll post some pics when it arrives.

[teog]

I just set this 30g cube up. Im running a SE 14k hamilton on a IC 250 ballast. You can see more pics in my gallery.

[sevise]

Finally have the 10K, here you go...


Color is better. The shimmer is alot more noticable, as seen on the back. Some corals look better other look worse. I haven't had enough time to make a final judgement, I'm thinking a 14k might be better.

[zahner]

def use 250W. I will be using 250W XM SE 10K

[theatrus]

10k looks nice!

[RyanH]

I ran a 250W DE Nova II with the magnetic ballast on my Oceanic 30g cube. It was awesome. Very clean light, looked good suspended, and with the magnetic ballast, the AB 20,000K looked good. Also ran a Hamilton 14,000K. I did not run actinic supplementation, so the AB was my favorite. I think I have a picture of the set up, so PM me if you want. HTH.