lighting recommendation please

[cheletnjared]

This is more of a recommendation for a friend that is getting into the hobby. He purchaced an existing 20 long tank from a friend that was setup for 3 years or so, and is now upgrading to a 29 whose dimentions are 36l x 12w x 18tall. He wants to keep soft, sps, and lps corals. I have recommended that he get some combination of MH/VHO since he wants to keep acros, and some other sps species of corals. The problem isn't that he doesn't trust my judgement, but more that the LFS is telling him that all he needs is 2 X 55 watt PC's and that that will be all that he will need for those corals. He just wants to make sure that he is not overkilling the lighting issue.

 

My personal thought is 2 36" VHO actinic lights and 1 or more likely 2 175 MH lights. Am I way off base for his size of tank?What are the suggestions that you would give him in terms of sufficient lighting for the type of corals he would like to house? Thank you for your input. - Jared.

[Joe]

Not WAY off but allittle off.

 

first off use NO actinics on a 29 its not that deep and blue penetrates the deepest NO is cheaper and has better colors!

 

A single MH is enough for a 29. just keep all the acros right under the MH and put the softies and lowerlight stuff lower in the tank.

 

if he wants a tank full of acros monties and clams then move up from a 175 watt to a 400 watt lamp. The reason for this is in a 29 your tank is 30 inches long a MH can cover that just fine. The reason why you would want higher wattage from a single bulb is many. bulbs are expensive. and a single 400 will have better intensity of light so it will penetrate to the bottom of the tank and better color up your corals.

 

Make sure you have fan cooling that down though because it gets HOT.

 

Good Luck