Xanareef Posted August 9, 2003 Share Posted August 9, 2003 Would 2 13w PC lights be sufficient lighting for soft corals? Or would it be best to set up four of them? This is the setup I'm looking at http://ahsupply.com/twox.htm Link to comment
wetworx101 Posted August 10, 2003 Share Posted August 10, 2003 No, not even as a fuge lit 24/7. The minimum I would use for a 29 would be 2x55watt. Link to comment
SaltyDawg Posted August 10, 2003 Share Posted August 10, 2003 even that is pushing coral death. 110 watts is like 3.8 watts per gallon or somthing like that. A 29g is deep and requires more potent lighting. Youwant more like 5-10 watts per gallon. Shrooms will survive with 110w of lighting but you will definately want to keep more than shrooms later on trust me! If I were you I would go with a 175w MH with 2x55w pc's or "plain jane" 24" 20 watt NO's with a 175w halide ( in the right spectrum of course ) I used 4x 24" 20w NO bulbs and 1 175w MH. WOrked out very very well. if you DIY it all your self you will save a bundle too. Link to comment
llockke Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 Thats not necessarily true. I used a 2x65 coral life hood on my 29 gallon tank for about six months and had a bunch of mushrooms, softcorals, a few lps's, a montipora cap and a frag of acro doing pretty good under my lights before i upgraded. the only thing that i lost was a 1 inch gold maxima and that had nothing to do with lights. You just have to make a conscious effort to keep some of the more demanding corals four to six inches from the lighting it is kind of limiting but if you want decent growth and good coloration you pretty much have to do that. I do agree that this setup is minimum lighting for a 29 gallon hood and if you ever get interested in keeping clams, sps, or you just want overall accelerated growth go with a retrofit 250 watt metal halide or whatever floats your boat. Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 If you're not into MH, a 4 bulb VHO would do nice and you could keep a wide variety of corals. It'll Cost about the Same as a 150-175 watt Pendant, though. VHO plus Bulbs= $240. MH pendant Retail - 200-300. How Much did you plan on spending? Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 You could alway use the VHO to upgrade to a 55 gallon too if you got the 660 ballast. Link to comment
llockke Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 Jahkaya is right as well. I originally looked into getting a vho setup like that from championlighting and hellolights. well worth the investment especially if you decide to upgrade to a bigger tank. Just remember to stick with URI bulbs they help out a bunch. Link to comment
Xanareef Posted August 12, 2003 Author Share Posted August 12, 2003 At the moment I can't particularially afford anything more than a hundred dollars. I'm a student atm. When I graduate (or win the lottery) i intend to buy the MH. I just want something that'll keep my hitchikers alive. Link to comment
llockke Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 Check this out http://www.hellolights.com/17methalretk1.html http://www.hellolights.com/25methalretk.html I bought the 250 watt one and with shipping it came out to 180. yea thats 80 more than you intend to spend but still No upgrades and the the xm bulbs last supposedly a year. Much better than pc plus you only have to buy one bulb. But this is a lot of light if you just intend on keeping your hitchhikers alive. Its cheap though so at least i gave you an option. If not check out the site they have a bunch of good deals on light Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 Xanareef: If you are not worring about upgrading you'd be fine with the 2x65 30" fixture from Hello. You could keep all but Maxima, crocea, Acros and some other high light SPS. If you do put some monit's in there just keep them within 8-12" of the Bulbs. With less light you'd have to be sure to keep good water quality and make sure you are feeding. You could get away with good lighing for less than $150 shipped. You might want to check on Ebay. PSL has a 3x55 unit That you may want to look into, but it may run you as much as $180 shipped (go MH) and the customer service these days may be a bit shakey. There is always a great fixture on Ebay that is 24" inches long that has 2 VHO bulbs and has a socket and ballast for a MH for $245. you could just use the VHO's until you have enough for the MH bulb. Link to comment
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