light

[reef lover]

hey new to reef keeping,just got a 130 seamless bowfront tank is 30 inches tall,can i do 175 watt metal halides for sps corals in a 30 inch tall tank or do i need to go 250 watts mh instead, prefer 175 because i don't really have room for a chiller

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF!!! Hope you enjoy it here

As for the lights, the 250's would really be better IMO at that height which I'm sure you will hear alot from the others as well. If you are really set on the 175's then then could work, but you'd just have to put the SPS's higher in the tank so they could be closer to the light. Just a few personal thoughts...I'm sure others will chime in soon and good luck with the setup!

 

[Meche]

I with you on that one Krish.

Welcome to RF Reef Lover.

 

[CarlaW]

I think that with a 30" depth, you would probably want to go with 400w halides. Most research says that 250w are good to a 24" depth. Depending on the depth of your sandbed, if you have one, I think 400w is the way to go here, especially with sps. JMHO

 

[returnofsid]

I know absolutely nothing about MH lighting, but I think I'd agree with Charlie. 30" of water is an awful lot of water to penetrate. I think I'd opt for 400W. Another option would be to put 250W bulbs on each end and a 400W in the center. That way you could put your most light demanding corals towards the center of the tank and some of that more intense lighting would even bleed off towards the areas lit by the 250s.

 

[Meche]

reef lover,

are you willing to get creative when it comes to cooling?

 

[CarlaW]

reef lover,

are you willing to get creative when it comes to cooling?

Isn't that why Wally World sells cheap fans???

 

[returnofsid]

The clamp on variety work great!! lol

 

[reef lover]

lighting

thanks for all the replys guys,i've tried fans on a 135 i had previously with 400 watt mh's and in the summer, even with my central air unit full blast ,all day,temps still soared,so i added a chiller,well i lost my home in hurricane katrina,and now rent an apartment that has a perfect nook for the tank,stand etc. but no room for a chiller, so i think 400 watt mh's are out,unless theres another way of cooling the tank,i'm willing to try the fans with the 250's maybe i'll have better luck,also decided not to do vho with mh's, just bought 4 t5's instead.... so i,ll do 4 blue t5's and 2 250 watt mh's what do you guy's think

 

[reef lover]

reef lover,

are you willing to get creative when it comes to cooling?

what did yo have in mind,im open to any solution,must inform you im not mechanically inclined.

 

[Meche]

The hard part here is going to be the fact that you live in a moist climate so there will be little room for evaporative cooling, although the A/C may help quite a bit.

Are you going to run a sump? If you do, that will give you more surface area to evaporate water and radiate heat from.

The general idea would be to aim fans at the surface of the water in your sump and display. You can (should) also put fans in the hood to evacuate heat generated by the halides before it has a chance to attack the water.

 

[CarlaW]

The hard part here is going to be the fact that you live in a moist climate so there will be little room for evaporative cooling, although the A/C may help quite a bit.

Are you going to run a sump? If you do, that will give you more surface area to evaporate water and radiate heat from.

The general idea would be to aim fans at the surface of the water in your sump and display. You can (should) also put fans in the hood to evacuate heat generated by the halides before it has a chance to attack the water.

Good advice!!!!!

 

[reef lover]

The hard part here is going to be the fact that you live in a moist climate so there will be little room for evaporative cooling, although the A/C may help quite a bit.

Are you going to run a sump? If you do, that will give you more surface area to evaporate water and radiate heat from.

The general idea would be to aim fans at the surface of the water in your sump and display. You can (should) also put fans in the hood to evacuate heat generated by the halides before it has a chance to attack the water.

thanks will try it,and yes i ordered a sump from acrylic man,it s 36x16x16 it has a split return,so water flows to both the wet-dry and skimmer chamber and then both flows into the refugium and external pump area,then back to main display

 

[reverendmaynard]

If those t5s are going to have individual reflectors, you can probably get away with the 175s. Unless you want top to bottom sps, of course.

 

[reef lover]

If those t5s are going to have individual reflectors, you can probably get away with the 175s. Unless you want top to bottom sps, of course.

the t5's do have individual reflectors,but yes i do want top to bottom sps's never kept them before but the local reef club/retail shop has a tank filled with sps's top to bottom and i fell in love.