How many watts per gallon?

[boosted306]

I am now choosing a light for my 29T. How many watts per gallon will I need to keep anything BUT a clam? I have been looking at hellolights 24'' T5.

 

[matts125]

I am now choosing a light for my 29T. How many watts per gallon will I need to keep anything BUT a clam? I have been looking at hellolights 24'' T5.

for a deep tank I would go 6-7 watts per gallon with t-5s or 5-6 watts per gallon with halides... this is assuming you want to keep bright colored sps corals..

 

[boosted306]

Hmmm.... does someone make a 30'' light with 200 watts?

 

[Allenfamily]

If you run metal halides you should be able to find something. Have you looked at the online stores? Marinedepot has always been great to us.

 

[boosted306]

Unfortunately MH's are out of my budget for the time being.

 

[Myteemouse]

look in the equipment forum ther is usually someone selling or can find you a good 250MH setup for around 100-150

 

[Saltyfish]

Unfortunately MH's are out of my budget for the time being.

I suggest you save up then and buy one at a time. Either way you will spend the money, just better to spend the money once and save.

I am saving for lighting now I think I will have more in my lights them I will in my tank itself.

 

[TWallace]

I really think "watts per gallon" is an irrelevant measurement, unless we're talking about heaters and not lighting.

 

[poakley723]

I agree! Watts per gallon doesn't take in to acount your tank depth or width. What are you tring to keep

 

[matts125]

I agree! Watts per gallon doesn't take in to acount your tank depth or width. What are you tring to keep

for a deep tank I would go 6-7 watts per gallon with t-5s or 5-6 watts per gallon with halides... this is assuming you want to keep bright colored sps corals..

as I stated above, for a (deep) tank with (brightly colored sps)

 

[boosted306]

I want to keep everything but clams.

 

[roscoe]

I want to keep everything but clams.

I think you should be fine with a 4 bulb or even better a 6 bulb t-5 unit over a 29g tall. That should grow pretty much anything even clams if you keep it up higher in the water colounm but if I was me I would just go ahead and slap on a 250w halide over that thing. Also you can get lighting for farely cheap used. So keep an eye out for them in the equipment for sale.

 

[tri_pod_rod]

go halide or go home, pay for the good stuff now so your not paying for the consequences later

 

[TWallace]

go halide or go home, pay for the good stuff now so your not paying for the consequences later

I have and prefer MH, but I don't think it's necessarily the best. I've seen a lot of very nice looking tanks lit solely by T5. I do like that you can really tweak the colors a lot with T5 due to the fact that there are more bulbs in the system.

 

[luke33]

Yep, watts per gallon is 20yrs ago. T5's or MH's over the 29g and you'll be good to go. A 250w mh or 4-6t5's with individual reflectors. You can pry find a 250w mh alot cheaper used. But like everyone has said, don't skimp. Lights and a good skimmer are things you don't want to skimp on in this hobby, or you'll get burnt and quit. Or you'll spend twice as much : ) Its no wonder its a 100% turnover hobby.

 

[roscoe]

Yep, watts per gallon is 20yrs ago. T5's or MH's over the 29g and you'll be good to go. A 250w mh or 4-6t5's with individual reflectors. You can pry find a 250w mh alot cheaper used. But like everyone has said, don't skimp. Lights and a good skimmer are things you don't want to skimp on in this hobby, or you'll get burnt and quit. Or you'll spend twice as much : ) Its no wonder its a 100% turnover hobby.

Amen to that brotha!!!! If I was to do this all over. I would do more research on equipment because there are so much useless crappy equipment out there. Especially when the majority of the LFS sales just the junky equipment. Not to say that all do but most do they know who they are. So do as much research as you can on these particular items IMO Skimmers and lighting to me is the most important because that is what most of us end up buying 2 or 3 times before we find the right one.

 

[boosted306]

Thanks everyone! I have posted several threads with tons of questions to make this hobby affordable and as responsible as possible. I invested a lot of money into my larger tank and got bored with it way to quick. I love the hobby but when you start buying on a whim and have to replace every few months it gets old. With this small tank I am just shooting for as close to an ocean ecosystem as I can get. Natural-ish lighting with tons of biological filtration.