Additional Lighting for a 36G Bow tank

[xtlosx]

Hey Guys,

 

I have a 30" X 14" x 17" tank.... I have a nice piece of glass right now covering the top of the tank completely, except for 1-2" on one side for the skimmer, so there is room for air to come through.

 

Right now, I have a Corlife Power Compact Flourescent, 1 X 65W 10000k bulb, and 1x 65W Actnic bulb. I have some frogspawn, galaxia, mushroom ricordia, duncans, and green star polyps all going very nicely under this setup. I want to increase the lighting, and want to put another lighting system next to the coralife fixture. Instead of buying another coralife fixture, I realize that getting a HO flourescent, or MH is the way to go, so I'm asking for some advice.

 

I've been looking around, and saw this particular fixture, http://www.fishneedit.com/new-light.html . For the price of $99, high output T-5 lamps Included 4 x 24w bulbs seems like a decent price, and these guys have positive reviews all over the boards here.

 

Now my question is, this will supplement my light for the types of corals I want, so what I am wondering is, should I purchase this light, is it better to get 3 white bulbs, and 1 actnic, or 2\2? My thought is, since I am going for more light (as someday I might want to add a bubble tipped anemone for my percs), that might be the best option? Also, is it better to go with the white bulbs with higher K rating, 14k\20k?

 

Any advice is appreciated... I'll be doing my own custom blue moonlight LED mod, so the fact that this fixture does not have that doesn't bother me one bit..

 

Thanks everyone!!

[evilc66]

To be perfectly honest with you, I would replace the PC fixture instead of supplimenting it. The Fish Need It fixture will probably equal what you currently have in terms of growth potential. Once you replace the stock bulbs with something better, then you will have a decent fixture that will certainly be better than what you are running currently. Adding a fixture like this to what you have would give you more intensity than you probably need.

 

If you order the fixture, I'd get it with two 14K whites, and two actinics. That should be a pretty crisp white. Don't worry too much more about it. Worry about color once you want to replace the bulbs with something better.

[xtlosx]

Awesome, thanks for the great information. Anyone know how quickly these guys ship their stuff?

 

When I get the fixture, I will see what having them both up there does, and then if it is too much I can always just use the new fixture... Makes me wonder what I am going to do with this other power compact fixture now if I don't end up needing it....

 

Thanks!

[evilc66]

They were pretty fast when I ordered from them last. Less than a week door to door.

[xtlosx]

Thanks! Looked like their build quality was relatively positive seeing as though they had a bunch of good reviews from people on the board.. Looking forward to the new lighting fixture :-)

[evilc66]

There are certainly worse things you can do than buying a FNI fixture. It's not perfect, and isn't going to be replacing Tek fixtures any time soon, but for the money, it's a good fixture.