To much light?

[StirCrazy]

Hi I was out all afternoon looking at lights and the cheepest set up I found was a 400 watt 20000K Mh and balast. I was hoping to find a 250 watt 10000K but no luck. so would 400watt be over kill on a 33 gal tank? and if not would 20000K be to blue or would it be fine?

Steve

[reefburnaby]

Hello,

400W over a 33 gal should be fine. Just watch our for the heat from the lamp and some corals will need a shaded area to prevent bleaching. You may need a filter to prevent UV from killing your corals -- especially for higher colour lamps.

10000K vs 20000K vs ???K ... its a personal preference. Green accents on corals like elegance and frogspawns will look prettier (at least, I think they do) with the higher colour lamps. So....20000K should be fine.
10000K is like snow white with a blue tint.

- Victor.

[ 03 October 2001: Message edited by: reefburnaby ]

[Troy F]

Hi Steve,

How much is the set up you found? I can get a ballast, enclosure, bulb, socket for ~$200 for 250W Iwasaki. Of course you'd still have to add some actinic to supplement the light.

[StirCrazy]

the bulb was 99.00 the balast 76.00 and 10 bucks for the socket I would still have to bui;ld my own cover but not bad for 400 watts.. I am just wondering how blue it would look

Steve

[Troy F]

That's a great price. The ballast I was speaking of is a little more and the bulb, Iwasaki, is too.

If you search www.reefs.org (http://www.reefs.org) or www.reefcentral.com (http://www.reefcentral.com) there is a thread on lighting comparisons with pictures of many different bulbs. It may help you decide.

[Reefmaster]

who is charging 99 for the lamp? we run two 400's on a 135g and my opinion is a 20k by itself would be too blue. i also think one 400w would be extremely bright on a 33g. i've seen a 20g with a 175W +NO and it was BRIGHT. you said build your own cover, do you mean canopy? it will end up being a pretty tall hood to fit the 400 cuz of the bulb diam. and to keep the bulb far enough away from the water. not to say it can't be done...shane

[ 06 October 2001: Message edited by: Reefmaster ]

[StirCrazy]

Hi Reefmaster, it was albrite that had the 400watt 20K for 99.00, go get it images/smiles/icon_smile.gif I have decided to do the PC setup using two 55watt PC smartlights and leave enuf room in the hood to do two more and maby add a small MH in the future. also ya I ment hood, I am going to build a nice stand and hood for this one to hide a sump and everthing else i put in.

Steve

[DJ88]

Hi all,

Just to add my bit in here.

I am running a 33 with a 250 Iwasaki and am putting a second 250 over it next week, ina ddition the two two 95W URI actinics.

Because of the shape of the 33 you have to put the bulb parallel to the tank and then lose a lot of the light spilling out the front of the tank. Because of this you only end up with a smaller sweet spot of light so to speak.. So to compensate I am putting a second 250 over it.

That is what I have and quite enjoy it. I don't plan on going to 10k or 20k as I am very happy with the 6.5k with actinics. It is bright but it does look good.

I figure if a photosynthetic gorgonian can grow like a weed the tank is doing well.. images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Speaking of gorgonians,

Marc.. your gorg is opened right up and filling out.. The polyps are extended already.. We will see what happens over the next few days. Had to do some re-arranging but it is in and looks good.. makes a neat "goal post" look to the tank with the two gorgonians on either side of the tank..