lighting ?

[S-B]

I'm ready to change my NO lights to something better , but whats the best to go with ?

It's a 40g breeder
36" long x18" wide x 15 deep

Yes I will be wanting corals and an annemone at a later date

it's a fish only right now with 45lbs of live rock , been running for a year now .

[mr_alberta]

Hi,

For your setup, I would use 2x 150W or 175W MH mounted in the center with your NO lights as actinics. Since your tank is very shallow (15"), you might be able to get away with using 70W halides if you can source all the needed parts.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Since it's only 36" wide & 15" high, wouldn't a centrally positioned single 175w MH be enough if it's supplemented with 3' VHOs? Any anemone (if it'll stay) & higher light coral could be placed on a central LR structure & softies could go nearer to the sides.

JMO

Anthony

[mr_alberta]

One halide should be enough light for the tank, but I personally just hate dark and bright spots in my tank. That's why I'd run two on a 36" tank.

Heck, you could get away with using just VHO lights and forget about the MH completely.

[S-B]

I was told using MH would raise my tank temp really high really fast being I only have about 13 1/2 to 14 inches of water depth . So , would I be better off just running VHO's ?

I have been offered a IC 660 ballast (6 months old ) and 4 new VHO's
at a really good price .

Will that work for an annemone and corals ?

[Rikko]

MH will only heat up your tank water if you have poor heat exchange.. If you wanted to run the MH bulbs shielded, simply run a fan across the bulb (not over the surface of the water) and you'll go a long way towards keeping things cooler. If you run the bulbs exposed, the fan will once again make a big difference but you'll also be forcing more evaporation.

Unless you want a BTA I wouldn't recommend any other anemone species under anything but halides. I've heard of many, many people succeeded without halides, but I'm still not going to stick my neck out. :D

[Invigor]

t5s baby! :mrgreen:

[rickjames]

Definitely go with Metal Halide... I would never consider anything else on a reef tank! One thing you could do is invest in a 175 or 250W double ballast (not a lot more money than a single, 'bout 60$ difference between a double 250W pulse and a single 250W pulse) and only install the one bulb and reflector and see how that looks with the fluorescents. Besides, if it doesn't look good or you upgrade the tank, you can install another reflector and bulb with not too much difficulty or cost.

Just my .02$