Lighting my 29 175MH or a 2x65 CSL pc hood?

[GSXR1000]

Well you guys helped me with my smaller now its time for help for my 29g. Im going to starte buying stuff for it prob about 2 months have it going. First thing im getting is the lights. Now let me say this right the first time. I want clams, soft corals, mushrooms, zoos, lps, and some sps if i dare to venture. My 2 chocies are a single MH 175 or 250 bell pendant with a 20k XM bulb. Or a CSL pc moonlite hood which is 65x2. Now its 130 vs 175 or 250. Is there any way i can do what i want with the CSL pc hood i really like the idea of the built in fan my room stays warm cause of alot of electronics always going. Between the computer, xbox, tv, souround sound something is always going. With the right placment of the clams is it possible with the CSL hood. I plan to keep about 50lbs of LR so it will be stacked high. I just have 2 concerns with the the halide is this. I like lots and lots of zoos and mushrooms with that shrivel up if i kep them on the bottom. And 2nd id like to keep the tank with just LR and the LS to grown my coraline. Dosent coraline have a hard time growing under MH.

I would like to keep a varitey of soft corals like leathers and polyps thats what worries me about the MH. I see all these tanks with around 130 wats on a 29 with lps and some sps. But i have a fetish for clams:D

[GSXR1000]

I was thinkin getting the CSL hood first to starte then upgrading to a MH. But if MHs can grown great coraline then i just shoot for the MH. I read that the lower the light intensity the more pink it is but the higher the more of a dark puple it is.

[wetworx101]

CSL just closed shop, and although championlighting will continue to service and honor the warranty...who knows how thongs might change again...not that I think you would need it, as CSL always made quality lights. But then you seem to want the ability to keep whatever you want...and a 2x65 wont cut it. Youre looking at halide baby.

 

I receently went through the same debate for my new 25gallon cube. It started on paper as a 16" 16gallon cube. Then I started looking at halides. For a 16, you might only want a 150 or 175. But these fistures are both rather limiting in bulb selection. Performance and price wise, 250watt halides are the best. Their output isnt just proportional with the wattage with 250s...many in fact can outperform 400watt bulbs. And on top of that, if you start to look around at pricing, you will notice that 250watt parts are just as cheap, if not cheaper than 175 and 150watt parts. Now, I knew 250watts over a 16" cube was a little too much...so now I have a 25gallon cube...and a 250watt pendant over it. At premium aquatics, the new icecap 250 ballasts are the lowest costing ones...by a wide margin. Makes you wonder. Now, sonce 250 is still alot, and I am running a pendant alone, I was sure to get a bluer bulb. The higher the K rating, the less output it will have. For ex, a 20,000K bulb prolly has half the PAR that a 10,000K bulb has (less photosynthetic radiation output, as well as less perceived light). So I decided to get a 15,000K 250wattDE bulb. Very nice, and just right. I would go the same route on a 29gallon. PFO 250wattHQI fixture, icecap NEW style 250watt e-ballast (premium aquatics), and a bulb between 13,000K (Aqualine) and 20,000K (Aqualine).

[GSXR1000]

Sounds good . I dont like to of a yellowish light i do like the color of a slash of blue in there. I was thinking maybe the XM 20k bulb. But thats prob not gonna give me a good photo growth. Should i just maybe get a 12k or 10 and then got powercompact achtinic or maybe NO ones. How much wattage will be needed for achtnic. Thanks alot. I would like to see how the 15k looks. Also wetworx do you have any pics of your tank.

[GSXR1000]

Also i seen the setup you talked about its 12 inches long how do you have yours setup from the celling. Also how are you soft corals doing under it. As well as your mushrooms and your zoos.

[wetworx101]

You can do a 20,000K with a 250watt. In an independant test, 10,000K 175watt halides were found to have a PAR reading of about 400. Now, a 175 running a 20,000K did cut this average down to about 180. This is rather crappy. I PC bulb can compete with this. Now, a 250wattSE (single ended) with a 20,000K was around 400! So, a 20,000K 250wattSE put out as much as a 175wattSE 10,000K! The idea is that if you want to run a bluer bulb...make it bigger. And just FYI, the 250wattDE (double ended) 20,000K bulbs were putting out PAR readings of 1000 to 1200!!! Whoah!!! That's as much as 400wattSEs!!! So 250watt bulbs seem the way to go as far as output&Kelvin, per wattage. Then look at prices: An icecap 250watt ballast at premium aquatics is $115. A 175, $105. Hmmm, ten bucks... A 150watt is $125! More than the 250. Do we see a clear choice yet guys? A 250watt e-ballast can be paired with a double ended or single ended bulb. If we want alot or a little PAR, just vary the bulb. Every company makes just about every bulb they make in a 250watt as well, so there are more choices with 250 than anything. And, like the icecaps, the extra cost for a 250 over a 150 or 175 is either minimal...or is actually reversed. A PFO pendant, either mogul (SE) or HQI (DE) will run you around $100. So, were looking at just over $200 for a 250, and then the bulb. That price may vary. You might pay $100, or you might pay $60. Either way, it sure beats replacing multiple PC bulbs once a year. My halides last almost 2 years before I yank them. Unlike PC, the output of a MH bulb may change a little, but the light is still useful. See, a flo bulb is really a UV bulb. If you look at a clear NO (dont BTW, this is what a UVsterilizer bulb is) it is almost pure UV. The phosphors on the glass of the bulb absorb UV light and emit a spectrum that is determined by the phosphors composition. As the phosphors wear out, the light diminishes, and can shift to sometimes completely useless spectrums. Now, a halide consists of pretty much the same thing as a flo tube in a way...passing an even more intense charge through a gas mixture...but not to produce UV...but to produce a very flat and natural light...I know it's a far cry, but much in the same way as the Sun makes light (supercharged gasses emitting light). Now, you dont see the sun's light changing alot over time, do ya? Same with halide...It may change some, but it's outer coating isnt wearing out to render it useless...it's just changing.

Ok, I'll quit babbling now...but trust me, 250watt all the way! I do have pics, but not here (I am not home til next week again). I currently just set up the 25gallon cube with the 250watt over it. There are some shrooms that came with the LR...very purple, almost overextended polyps! They seem to like it. The thing is that I have 18" of depth to work with as well...so I can simply put high light species at the top, and low-lighters on the bottom. In the 60cube, I use a 400wattSE. I grow a pink-red acro at the top, xenia in the mid level, and all the softies on the bottom. The clams love it too. The 60cube it 24" tall, so there is plenty of depth. The effective light output of a PC is said to get cut in half after 18"...now I am not so sure of halides, but I doubt it is cut down that much...way too intense! Now, a 29 gallon is about 18" tall, so you should have lighting just like my 25gallon cube. I dont mount either of my pendants from the ceiling...I hang them off poles made of bent conduit that are bolted to the stand.