pc / t5 and metal halide help

[fishguy007]

i went to upgrade my ligthing today.

i currently have a 30 gallon aquarium. i want some good lighting for my corals so that i can get some growth.

currently i have 2 * 65 power compacts running the tank. is this enough??????

i went to put a 150 watt metal halide on the tank and the store told me that that would be over kill lighting. is this true. ???????????????????????

the suggested that i convert to t5 lighting and just use that. any suggestions.? is halides bad for this tank and is t5 better than pc's? also how many t5's should i get.

[fencer]

I used a 150MH on my 34 gal. It was more of a heat issue than light

[Marlin65]

Depends on what you want to put in the tank?
I have a 250 DE over 25 Gal

[fishguy007]

want to put shrooms leathers etc. maybe a few lps and sps.

[fishguy007]

is the 2 * 65 watts that i have on the tank now good for coral growth?


what about theese t5's how many would i need? any help?

[xtreme]

You'll need more than PC's for SPS. Lots of people end up upgrading their lighting as they decide after the tank has been going for a while that they want to try SPS. Sorry I don't have any experience with MH on small tanks but the only issue I could see is the heat issue mentioned above.

[Marlin65]

A 150 probably will be OK on a 33 with a few fans. That or the T-5s there is some nice tanks with those on them.
I would go with 4 of those though as your atinics don't provide a lot of the right light.
Here is my 40 with 4 T-5s. Not the best picture and only the actinics are on.
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg94/hikingtrigger/FishOCT3108015.jpg

[Marlin65]

Here is my 25 with 250 DE but I run a chiller as heat is a problem. My fuge has a 175 SE and it runs a lot cooler than my DE.
Hope that helps you out a bit.
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg94/hikingtrigger/MacroNovember029.jpg

[Hairytank]

For a tank that size, T5 would be the best bet (in my opinion), especially with heat issues of metal halide. I have a 46 gal bow-front (This is merely a 33gal with a bowed front) with a Tek T5 fixture 4X39W and it allows me good growth for soft corals and LPS anywhere in the tank and minimal to good growth for some lesser light dependent SPS (Monti Cap and Monti Digi) when they are kept to the top 3rd of the tank. BTW, my tank changes temperature from 80 to 83 during the day when the lights are on, so there will be some heating with the T5, but not as much as MH.

What you need to keep in mind is, there are some corals that require a lot of light and others that don't. Prior to going to the local fish store (LFS) to pick corals do some research online.

Here is a picture of my tank with the T5s.

http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/oo81/jp_ryanAC/Tankfull.jpg