zroeder Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 It is finally happening. I'm sick and tired of the stock JBJ Nano Cube lighting. I wanted to get lighting decided upon before adding corals. Having deliberated much over Matt's hoods, having done a bit of research on some pendants, and having butchered my stock hood out of boredom, I think I've decided that a pendant would be the best option (sorry matt...awesome hoods). As I stated in a previous post, I'll be doing this for flexibility. When I finally decide to scrap the Cube altogether and move on into the world of finnex m-tanks or maybe a simple all-glass, I'll want my MH to come with me. So, the pendant is my choice. Particularly, the Reef Optix III. I spoke with someone at my LFS who has a 12 gallon with that pendant, a blue wave III ballast, and an Aqualine 10K 150W HQI DE bulb. He has a simple radio shack fan on the pendant and claims that temperatures are stable when the pendant is 1 foot above the waterline. The fan died on him once, and he said that temps only went up to 83 degress F. Please tell me if I'm retarded and offer me a better solution. Now, I could go with a 70W bulb, but I'd probably need a different ballast and that scraps my flexibility in case of upgrade plan. Let's be honest; aesthetics are important. How bad would a pendant over a nano cube look? I'm planning on covering the back sump with some kind of venting material. In addition to the MH lighting, I need the smallest reflector available because I have a minirefugium with a tiny fluorescent light (any recommendations welcome). I know this post is getting long, but I want to make sure I don't mess this up. Bulbs have me confused. I know XM is highly recommended...please check me on that. I'm having trouble with color temperatures, too. At my LFS, they have a blue-lined 20k MH. In my opinion, it didn't look as good as the 10k bulbs. I'd like to know how the regular (non-blue-lined) 20k bulbs compare to the ones I saw. Also, are supplemental actinics imperative, and does anyone have any ideas on how I could mount them (I'm guessing they'd only be necessay on the 10k unless my understanding of 20k bulbs is incorrect)? At any rate, thanks for the help. Link to comment
ifynanceu Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 check out my hood before you dump a fortune...it is stock, but has a crap load of lighting in it and my stonies are growing very fast for not having any halide on it!!! http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...?threadid=33493 Link to comment
zroeder Posted July 2, 2004 Author Share Posted July 2, 2004 very nice. I'll have to consider those t-5's now. Can you recommend a good store to buy them from? Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.