PC lighting

[glinton]

I am thinking about buying a used All-Glass 2X55 Watt PC. Is this a good choice? The bulbs that come with it are GE® 9325° Kelvin 55 watt lamps. Are these just as good as the 10K pure daylight bulbs? It does not come with actinics, so I was planning on taking one out and puttting in one actinic bulb. Is this a good plan?
If I have 110Watts in a 30gal, what kind of corals can I have? I would imagine mushrooms, brain corals, polyps, leathers, but what else? Could I keep an anemone? I would like to get one later on when my tank matures (it is only about 6 weeks old).
Thanks for any advice.

 

[saltyrich]

I would opt for a little more lighting myself, but if you can get the setup for a good price, it sounds good. One question, will you be able to add more lighting or is it a self contained hood. If you can get the setup and still add additional stuff, I'd do it. I have 2x65 watt pcs and a 20 watt actinic N.O. bulb on a new 20 and really like it. Is your 30 tall or long? I would want just a little more on a 30 than 2x55, IMO. I don't think you'd have to get too much more to keep a lot of things though. It just depends on your wants for both now and in the future.

 

[glinton]

The tank is about 3 feet long and 18 inches high. The PC is a strip and not a hood.
I also have a 36" light that came with it. That would give me 140 Watts over a 30 gal which is (drumrolll please...) 4.6 watts/gal. What will that allow me to do?
Thanks for your advice saltyrich. What do you keep in your tank with your lighting?

 

[saltyrich]

If it is strip, I'd probably not do it because it will be hard to add on to that. Just my opinion though. I'm sure others may have some ideas for you. I've got mushrooms, polyps, softies, an anemone, a clam, and some sps in my 30 under vho lighting. Everything is thriving.

 

[jonthefb]

salty how is your 20 coming along? thats about exactly the same set up i have on mine, but instead of an emperor filter i have a cpr bak pak thing made by us aquariums. i love my littel tank and it is stocked to the hilt with corals!
glinton, i agree with salty that you might add more light to your 30. one thing you can do is to replace your 55w bulbs with 65's and you will then have 130 watts of light. i did this with mine i originally had 2 55w bulbs but upgraded to 65's (my lighing guy assured me that they would function properly with my ballast) and voila i had 20 more watts of light. with some supplemental lighitng i think you will have a nice looking tank. maybe get a similar type of strip lighting or use the one oyu have with the new on so that they are both on top of the tank.
good luck
jon

 

[saltyrich]

jon,
The 20 is coming along really good. I got real lucky at the lfs with some incredible lr. Lots of color and macro on it. Believe it or not, I've even seen a stomatella snail, a micro-star, and a few bristleworms already. The tank's been up about 6 weeks. Can you believe that? I'm happy with my attempt of converting the emperor 280 to a small refugium at this point. Time will tell. I've got the CPR on my 30 and like it. The emperor was on the 30, but when I got the CPR, I shifted it over and converted it to a min-fuge! The JBJ clamp on pc is cool. Thanks for asking.

 

[jonthefb]

i always like to hear what others with similar set ups are doing so i can steal......i mean re-evaluate my setup. im gettign ready to re-do my canopy. i work at home depot and they had some light fixtures that use 13x pc's that were on clearance for 4 bucks so i bought like 4 of em and plan on supplementing my 130 watts with like 6 of these things as 50/50 bulbs so it sould look pretty sweet. i just have to get off mry arse and do it!
good luck
jon

 

[saltyrich]

Let me know how it works, so I can steal, uh re-evaluate my system in the future!

 

[glinton]

Jonthefb-
Thanks for the advice man! How do I know if I can for sure put some 65W lights in there? The strip light is an All-glass 2X55W. If I can, that advice is great! Should I e-mail all glass or will they give me a safe answer and tell me to use the listed wattage?