lighting for a 30 gallon long

[bubbagump]

well i am thinking of getting into a reef stle aquarium. i have 38 lbs of live rock anf a dsb with 2 percula clowns. i have a but load of coraline algea. and i almost forgot i ahve a seaclone skimmmer. i was thinking about getting a retrofit PC set up from hello lights, it includes reflector, electronic ballast, and endcaps as well as panasonic bulbs. i would have to build a hood with a fan mounted into it for air circulation. and it comes with 2 96 watt bulbs so that makes a total of 192 watts and so thats a little over 6 watts a gallon and my tanks is onl 10 inche from the surface of the water to the sand. would i be able to keep just about anything in that tank like anenomies, soft hard corals? even a clam?

 

[josh]

Hi,
Yes you will be able to keep all softies and maybe a some montipora sp. hard corals. However, you probably won't be able to keep acro sp. sps or clams with the possible exlusion of deresas. Down the road I would recommend a MH upgrade, I just put a new 250 HQI MH over my 29 gallon. It looks great, and the softies are adapting well.
HTH
~ check that, I reread your post
Get the MH now and save yourself money down the road, trust me on that one!!!!

 

[saltyrich]

I think that you could just as easily, and cheaper!, go with a VHO retro from the same place. I've got it on my 30 tall and I can keep anything I want to. With a 30 long, you don't really have to have a deep penetrating light source like MH. You could get a 4-bulb retro VHO, which would put about 400 watts of VHO on your tank. I'd bet money you could keep a clam in it then. IMO.

 

[josh]

Keeping clams w/o a MH is a very long debate to say the least. Yes you could keep one with VHO, but will it thrive????? Another point, while yes you could get as many watts using multiple VHO tubes the light will NOT come close to the intensity of a MH. This is the very reason the watts / gallon is worthless. Trust me, if you are looking at keeping anything light demanding you will be switching down the road to a metal halide, so just save yourself the money.

 

[saltyrich]

I don't agree with you on most of your reasoning josh. Here's why- my clam is thriving. There are several other people on this board that keep clams under VHO lighting. Lighting is not ALL about intensity. Remember, he's trying to weigh options on a 30 gallon long. The tank is not deep at all. MH is more intese-nobody is disputing that. But required to keep high light corals and clams? Definately not. You must take into consideration such things as placement. If he aquascapes his rockwork all the way up to the top in his tank, he can keep anything. My tank is a 30 tall. Yes tall! And, I am having success keeping whatever I want to. I've studied the debate and asked the questions on this board. You don't have to go MH on everything. For deeper tanks, it is more aptly recommended. VHOs would be fine on a 30 long and wouldn't limit him at all IMO. If I can do it on a 30 tall, he can do it on a 30 long. I'm running 4 74 watt URI bulbs. A 30 long will take 4 95 watt URI bulbs I think. I think 380 watts of VHO lighting on a 30 gallon long will do about whatever he chooses to do. P.S. there are some sharks on this board that have kept just about whatever they have wanted to with VHO lighting. MH is great lighting-I'm just saying that it is not the end all for every reef tank. You can have great success without MH on every reef tank.

 

[josh]

Rich,
I never said anywhere that MH was a must for all tanks, however I do feel that it is at the least very beneficial for high light demanding corals / clams. You just get more bang for the buch with MH lighting. As far as clams go, I do feel that MH is a must. The symbiotic algae in the mantel need very intense lights and really won't fully develop with sub par lighting. Now you might get away with a deresas or a squam, but I really can't see keeping a maxima or a crocea under VHO's. Bottom line, we all want to provide the best for our animals, and IMO MH lighting is the best available now.
That's just my 2 cents, this debate could go on for days on end.
~ yes you do have ample wattage ( 300 watts ), but you can't apply that to intensity and yes intenstiy with the correct spectrum is what lighitng is all about, no question about that one. Lighting is just a very debatable topic no question about it.

 

[saltyrich]

There is where we disagree. I don't necessarily believe that you get more bang for the buck. You pay more bucks for the lights! If I had the need for MH lights, I'd get them, but I don't. And, I would not agree with the implication that VHO lighting is subpar. As far as intensity goes, yes MH is more intense than anything currently on the market. There are however several factors to consider that you keep missing. Does he need that intensity on a 30 long? It is not a deep tank, whereas MHs excel on deeper tanks. Would the MHs place their intensity across the length of the tank? Answer- yes if he spends enough money. I think good intensity spread out across the whole tank would suffice for his purposes for less of a cost versus greater intensity over a specific area. Another thing, MHs are intense. In all probability, thgey are too intense for some corals. I've heard people talk about burning up lower to moderate light corals up under MHs.

 

[saltyrich]

I forgot. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can provide a fuller spectrum of light with a combination of VHO bulbs in a retro kit than MH bulbs. Aren't MH bulbs in very limited kelvin degree ranges?

 

[josh]

I don't believe so, you are correct that some folks supplement their MH with VHO acinics. But MH bulbs come in 6500, 10K, 12K , 13K and 20K not to mentoin the xanium bulbs. These are the K deg but I really haven't seen the mass spectrography of each one, but I feel pretty sure they cover all the basis. If they didn't no one would use them. This topic really has no one right answer, but if you are looking to keep sps or clams IMO you should go with MH. Not to say you can't have some success with other lights, but in general MH are the best by far for these high light corals. Dosen't anyone else have an opinion. Rich and I are writing a book here!

 

[boogerbooger]

2 65watt CSL powercompacts.. 1 20watt marine-glo NO bulb
give you an idea of coral location with my lighting..
have torch(high lvl of tank), frogspawn(med-high lvl of tank), hammer(low to medium lvl of tank)..Euphyllias was mainly trial and error with placement..all coexist.., pearl bubble(low to medium lvl of tank),maze brain(low to medium lvl of tank), and cabbage leather(low lvl of tank)
lights are above an open hood tank..about 10-12" above water surface..
and yes 30 long..