Howm much light is too much light?

[1fish2fish]

I've been reading some of the older posts on 6500 k curlies and find myself seriously considering an addition to my hood. I currently have a 27 watt 6500 k quad and a 9 watt actini 03 on a 12 " deep 12" diameter round tank. Obviously my space is a tad limited under my hood. That is where these come in. I found this light

 

http://www.1000bulbs.com/product.php?product=1086

 

and am seriously considering it. I was wondering what others have found as far as long term use of these lights? I think that another 42 watts would be nice, but would my 9 watt actinic be enough to still bring out the color? I'd hate to have my actinic completely overwhelmed by whiteness. The crappy thing about a round hood is that you are limited by the shape.

 

Also would 78 watts be reasonable for a tank that has a total water depth of about 10 ". Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[hmpitags2006]

Well I have a 20 High and I run 250w XM 20k MH bulb with 2x13w PC supplementation. IMHO you can not really put tooo much light over a tank. Since you will want to sooner or later get a clam or SPS. The only thing about more light is more heat. But I think that my tank is running cooler with MH since I raised them 10" off the water surface, and PC's put out way more heat, and most people run them right over the water.

HTH,

-Glenn

[1fish2fish]

LOL, just as I thought I had covered most of the search I find this.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=25731

 

Nice tank Mav!

 

Ya, a MH would be nice. Hmmmmm 1 round 175 watt pendulum over my round tank... I sense a theme. hehe

 

Thanks for the reply. I think I may try the curly out. It seems to be the only way (short of MH) to get more than another 13 watts of lighting over my tank. Who knows, if it works out well I may pull out hte 27 watt quad and replace it with another curly. that would give me space for a 13 watt 50/50 act/10,000k normal pc for a total of 106 watts

MUUUUUWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Hmm, could get a little toasty (anyone got some marshmalows?)

[DSparks]

1fish2fish,

 

I'm currently running 4 curlies (19 watt a piece), plus 2 x 13 watt actinics over my 10 gallon. It is pretty bright under there, but in the end I decided to upgrade to a 70 watt Aqualine AB MH with the additional 26 watts of actinic. I think I would be OK with the current setup for softies. At first I thought "Since this is my first tank it'll be all I want to keep." It didn't take long for me to change my tune though, so I'm going for the better setup. If I were you and I had a little extra cash to spend I'd go with a MH. Aqualine AB 10,000K bulbs actually run around 13,000K, so you might not even need to supplement an actinic if you go that route.

[offsprg01]

the only thing you need to watch is aclimating corals to your tank. usually they wont come from a tank that has say 25 watts per gallon, so if you decide to hang the big @$$ 250 watt MH on a ten gallon just be sure to aclimate you coral to you light, and ofcourse be sensative to their needs and by you tank inhabitants some shades.

[1fish2fish]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the tank has a volume of about 4 gallons, so 78 watts puts me at just under 20 watts per gallon. Of course if I went the route of getting two of those big ole curlies I would have 106 watts for about 26 watts per gallon. Hmmm, think I could put some SPS under that?

[Aiptasia]

Depends on the species. It's probably too strong for deep water SPS corals but should be fine for mid and top water species. Make sure you can keep your heat/evaporation under control and be careful not to light shock the corals. Ask your dealer what lights he's keeping the frags under, the distance from the bulbs to the tip of the frag and you'll know about where to place the frags in your tank.

 

You may want to go with a shorter light cycle, say 6-8 hours on per day for a week or two, until the new corals acclimate. SPS love strong currents also, so make sure you have some good powerheads blowing over them.

 

If it's not enough light, the corals will gradually lose their vivid colors and turn brown. Too much light and they could stress and bleach on you. Tricky buggers.