Lighting question on 52 bowfront corner

kingpin9995 · 03/30/2011, 01:52 PM

Hey, I have a 52 gallon bow front corner reef tank. 90 pounds of live rock and 45 pounds of sand. Keeping some Zoas, Frogspawn, Tree Coral, small Xenia, and assorted mushrooms.. Using a Current Nova Extreme 20" light with 6 T5 slimpaq lights , three white and three blue. Could not go alot longer because of the limited dimensions across the tank. I am thinking of going to Metal Halide. I just like the look so much better and some shimmer. Would that be ok for my setup? Looking at a clamp on Metal Halide. They come in 150 and 250 w. Like the Viper brand with the two moonlight leds. Would the 150 be enough for my application. I ordered two strings of the eco brand stunners, but I have been told they do not do much for shimmer when using T5's also. Is that true. I guess I will find out but I am not to optomistic after reading some info from others online. My tank is doing pretty well with some good growth since I have had the tank about 6 months. The zoa's are the only thing that has not done well for some reason. Everything else has taken off. I also us a Aquafuge with skimmer on the back which holds about 8 gallons with chaeto. Ithas worked great! Any input would be appreciated...

liquidplumber · 03/30/2011, 06:18 PM

Go with 2 AI sol blues led fixtures, there 75 watts each and will blow away the mh and they shimmer very nicely, not to mention you will save a ton on the electric bill that the added cost will pay for itself.
I used 2 on my 92 corner and love em plus they are dimmable and have a nice controller.

kingpin9995 · 04/01/2011, 10:46 AM

Wow those are a bit too rich for my blood right now. I did receive the ecoexotic stunners and attached to edges of my Nova. Very easy install with 3M tape on the edges of the stunners supplied. I got the ones with some blue light along with the white. I first just powered those up alone and tons of shimmer. Not a real bright light but very pleasing and interesting and lots of light movement. I then turned on the actinics with the stunners and again very nice. Lots of shimmer and the corals etc popped more. I then turned on the whites also and had all up and running. Just as people have said it did reduce the shimmer quite a bit. Still some shimmer especially under overhangs and on the side walls of the tank. I'm gonna keep them. Run the hole shabang during the day and then the stunners and the actinics in the later evening. Question? So can I keep these stunners on all the time or do I need to have a period of darker time. I do have on my aquafuge from 11 pm to 11 am so there is some light that comes in from that. Just curious.

All in all if you are ok with having shimmer effect in different applications during your light cycle then go with them. If you want that shimmer continuosly like with halides these may dissappoint . Hope this info is valuable in further purchases for someone looking for that shimmer.

jcolletteiii · 04/01/2011, 08:23 PM

Stay away from the vipers - they have such a hokey, fidgety clamp system. I used one for a few weeks then took it off because I was afraid it was going to fall into the tank. Keep your current lighting, save up, and go LED - you're going to end up doing it sooner or later anyhow.

03/30/2011, 01:52 PM	#1
kingpin9995 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 181	Lighting question on 52 bowfront corner Hey, I have a 52 gallon bow front corner reef tank. 90 pounds of live rock and 45 pounds of sand. Keeping some Zoas, Frogspawn, Tree Coral, small Xenia, and assorted mushrooms.. Using a Current Nova Extreme 20" light with 6 T5 slimpaq lights , three white and three blue. Could not go alot longer because of the limited dimensions across the tank. I am thinking of going to Metal Halide. I just like the look so much better and some shimmer. Would that be ok for my setup? Looking at a clamp on Metal Halide. They come in 150 and 250 w. Like the Viper brand with the two moonlight leds. Would the 150 be enough for my application. I ordered two strings of the eco brand stunners, but I have been told they do not do much for shimmer when using T5's also. Is that true. I guess I will find out but I am not to optomistic after reading some info from others online. My tank is doing pretty well with some good growth since I have had the tank about 6 months. The zoa's are the only thing that has not done well for some reason. Everything else has taken off. I also us a Aquafuge with skimmer on the back which holds about 8 gallons with chaeto. Ithas worked great! Any input would be appreciated...

04/01/2011, 08:23 PM	#4
jcolletteiii Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: 58703 Posts: 1,265	Stay away from the vipers - they have such a hokey, fidgety clamp system. I used one for a few weeks then took it off because I was afraid it was going to fall into the tank. Keep your current lighting, save up, and go LED - you're going to end up doing it sooner or later anyhow. __________________ T5-powered (ex-LED club member) SPS-dominant 50g. Cadlights CUBE. Current Tank Info: 16g biocube

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04/01/2011, 10:46 AM	#3
kingpin9995 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 181	Wow those are a bit too rich for my blood right now. I did receive the ecoexotic stunners and attached to edges of my Nova. Very easy install with 3M tape on the edges of the stunners supplied. I got the ones with some blue light along with the white. I first just powered those up alone and tons of shimmer. Not a real bright light but very pleasing and interesting and lots of light movement. I then turned on the actinics with the stunners and again very nice. Lots of shimmer and the corals etc popped more. I then turned on the whites also and had all up and running. Just as people have said it did reduce the shimmer quite a bit. Still some shimmer especially under overhangs and on the side walls of the tank. I'm gonna keep them. Run the hole shabang during the day and then the stunners and the actinics in the later evening. Question? So can I keep these stunners on all the time or do I need to have a period of darker time. I do have on my aquafuge from 11 pm to 11 am so there is some light that comes in from that. Just curious. All in all if you are ok with having shimmer effect in different applications during your light cycle then go with them. If you want that shimmer continuosly like with halides these may dissappoint . Hope this info is valuable in further purchases for someone looking for that shimmer.