speakeraddict Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 I have the pieces cut for my custom cube tank (16x16x16 back 5 inches will be sump/fuge). I also have the canopy parts cut out of acrylic too so I don't want to use a pendant. Problem is that I cannot decide what kind of lighting to use now. The tank is only going to be soft corals and shrooms and I don't want to go MH on this one. When I built it (without checking bulb dimensions first) I thought I would use a 96watt quad on it, but, that won' fit! I wonder if 4 t8's (zoomed makes a 15" 14 watt in several color temps) would work or if I should use 2 27 watt quads (HD has them in 6500K for $10 ea.) and add a couple 13w actinics. The 32 watt bulbs I saw on a tank (4 months old) did not have nice color and they were supposed to be 10000K and true actinic. Colors looked washed out. Any advice would be appreciated. Link to comment
Isaka Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 hmm, I have a 32w 50/50 retro on my 7gal minibow and I love the color and brightness. If you don't want to go with MH, basically that leaves you with some sort of PC. And at that size tank, unfortunately 2 X 32w would be probably the best fit. Just my opinion, good luck. Link to comment
speakeraddict Posted December 30, 2003 Author Share Posted December 30, 2003 Which brand of bulbs do you have? speakeraddict Link to comment
wetworx101 Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 Speaker...I planned on using the 70wattMH over a 16" cube with softies...I dont think it would be too much...just raise it up a few inches...youre really going to have a *****in time trying to fit anything else over that size. You could go tres-ghetto and use the curly bulbs in 6500K with a couple 13watt PCs for actinic...that would be pretty low-med lighting...or just 4x13watts all together. Hey, if you dont want that ballast, I'll buy that one too!!! Link to comment
speakeraddict Posted December 31, 2003 Author Share Posted December 31, 2003 Well, the other two ballasts is going to go for a custom pendant for another 16 cube for someone. That tank is going to be awesome! I haven't gotten the parts for it yet. But, in design, it will be the same dimensions open top rimless (thicker acrylic) without the divider and drilled for closed loop and overflow. The pendant will have two 70w bulbs 1 x 10000K and 1 x 20000K (from japan) I have no clue where he is getting the bulbs but he said he got them both for about $125 including shipping. Anyhow he is going to put SPS in it. We will take pics when we start on mine in a week or two and his in about a month (if he gets the rest of the $$$ together). speakeraddict Link to comment
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