Newbie needs advice on lighting a 20L...

[bcoons]

Hi, well, my first SW tank has been running for about four months now. It's a 20L (30") with 20 lb of live rock, a CPR 2R skimmer, two maxi-jet 600 PH, and a DIY HOB 'fuge made from a AquaClear 500 (110) filter. No sump. Current livestock are a O. Clown, a green chromis, a Royal Gramma, a couple shrimp, hermit crabs, and snails. The 'fuge has some LS, LR rubble and a bunch of cheato algae growing nicely. Everything appears to be doing well, with following parameters very stable:
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
pH 8.2
S.G. 1.0245
dKh 9-10
Nitrates 10-15 ppm right before weekly 5 gal water change.
Calcium - Just started measuring at about 280 ppm.

Current lighting, which has been enough for the fish, is an AGA dual light strip with two 18W regular Flourescent bulbs over an AGA glass top.

I'm now looking to upgrade my lighting so I can start working on raising the calcium levels and keeping a few easy corals and working my way up to the more light hungary corals. In researching so far I find a couple of options. I want a fixture that sits on the tank rather than one that hangs from the ceiling. (My ceiling is really high over the tank.) For other reasons I don't want to build a canopy for this tank. I also find there are fewer options for a 30" tank as opposed to a 24" or a 36".

So here's what I'm looking at so far:

Coralife 30" 2x65 PC

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...roduct=ES53403

Current USA 2x65 PC

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...roduct=CU01022

The PC fixtures will give me 130W over 20 gal or over 6W per gal. From my reading so far that seems like a good amount for most corals.

The Current USA SunPod 1 x 150 MH will give me a few more watts, but won't I be missing the blue part of the spectrum from the lack of actinics?

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...roduct=CU01062

Obviously, the MH is also a bit more expensive than the PC fixtures. This is not a limiting factor to my ultimate choice, but seems like I get a lot more lumens per buck from the PC.

So, how about some advice from the experienced nano-reefers out there. Which way should I go for my light upgrade on this tank?

I should also note that this probably won't be my only tank for long. If I can keep this one healthy for a year or so, I plan to start building a 90 or 120gal reef tank with sump and the works.

TIA for any replies.

[jeep4x4greg]

i have the Current USA 2x 65 retrofit and its awesome

easy to install if you have a hood already (i have a homemade one i made with wood)

make sure to have a lot of ventilation....they 2x65 get hot.....much hotter than the 2x20 i had before.

put the bulbs close together or you will get a big collor difference below the bulbs....

on a 20L the tank is 30ish wide...the lights are only 24" so the edges of the tank might be a lil bit dimmer....but its not really noticable....

heres a pic with the lights....i've added some stuff since then





you'll be happy with em.... i know i am

[aural]

I'd go for the MH fixture. You dont loose the blue spectrum if you use a 14k or 20k bulb. (I personally like the look of the 14 or 15k bulbs - not too much blue)

You will be able to keep ANYTHING under a 150 watt halide in your 20L. clams, SPS,... you name it. If your budget allows, i would definitely go that route over PC.

[DSparks]

Hey bcoons, I would also look into T5's. A few weeks ago I was sold on MH for my next tank. After some in-depth research I'm now sold on using T5's. With the right setup you can keep pretty much anything. They also run a lot cooler than a MH. Check out this guy's tank. It's lit with T5's only.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=700454

[bcoons]

Thanks for all the input.

DSparks - Do you know of any 30" fixtures for T5s? I see lots of retrofit kits and fixtures for 48" tanks, but not much for a 30" tank.

[DSparks]

Ah, good point. I don't think I've ever seen one. I think you could get away with staggering the 24" fixtures as long as you use individual reflectors. They increase the light output by up to 300%.

[aural]

T5s are nice if heat is really going to be an issue with your tank, but you really cant get the lighting that halides give you. The way the light dances from a Halide is absolutely spectacular. (and its one of the first things people notice about my tanks)

You just cant recreate that natural sunlight feel with tube lighting.

[saltwaterfishlover]

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113030
this is what I use and love it has moon lights and 2 switches for the t5's and a fan looks good an dI get good growth
andy

[aural]

unfortunately he is needing lights on a 20L which is 30" wide. It is difficult to find a good (non MH) lighting fixture for 30" aquariums.

[saltwaterfishlover]

I know I have that light on a 20L and am actually changing the tank to a 29 today (wanted more water) it gives plenty of light

[bcoons]

Originally posted by saltwaterfishlover
I know I have that light on a 20L and am actually changing the tank to a 29 today (wanted more water) it gives plenty of light

So, do you have a 24" unit that you set over the 30" tank on modified legs (which sounds like a possibility) or the 36" unit that hangs over the sides? Either would seem to work but is not an optimum solution.

I wanted to avoid building a canopy or tight hood for this tank as I already had heat issues when I set it up in late fall here in Texas. And that was with the glass top and only 36W of light from an AGA dual light strip. Had trouble keeping daytime tank temps below 82F as it was.

That's why I think I want one of the fixtures that mounts on legs a couple of inches above the taks, so I can get some fans in there near the water line and get some good evaporative cooling in the summer. I do have an auto top off system hooked to a float switch in the tank, so evap shouldn't be a big problem.

So, given that I only see fixtures with 130W of PC, or 150W of MH in a 30" fixture, which one to go with? I'd really like a fixture with both MH and PC for maximum flexibility, but haven't found one in a 30" fixture. Hence, my dilemma.

Ah, the curse of being an engineer. Forever searching for the optimum solution!

[saltwaterfishlover]

looks terrible today is maintenance day and upgrade but here are some ideas
from front

how I suspended it

back for vent and fish protection ( eggcrate and frosted plastic)

[bcoons]

Aha! Got it. OK, pretty good idea. It has the 24" fixture up above the water some, and a nice wood top to boot. Thanks for the pics. It sure helps in getting the ideas flowing.

[Dudester]

bcoons - Sorry, man, no comments on your lighting scheme, but I love your opening post with the S.G. listed as 1.0245 . We don't see that very often!

[KingfishJohn]

Aquamedic makes a relatively inexpensive T5 fixture, and the best T5 bulbs in my opinion. They make both 24 inch and 36 inch fixtures that can hold 8 39W T5 bulbs. You'd get more light than a halide and much less heat, along with a good mix of white daylight and true 420nm actinic coverage.

I'll have to check into if they make a 30 inch version but I have a feeling the answer is no.

The only thing you have to consider is the cost of bulbs. T5's need to be replaced every 8 or so months. This would be 8 bulbs at somewhere are 15 bucks a piece, so bulb replacements might be a little costly.

Again, a single halide fixture hung much like Mike's (not from the ceiling but from a light rack) would probably be the easiest option. I would still investigate the T5 fixture however as it would give you more than enough light, and much less heat.

John

[Billy1234]

I have almost a similiar setup to yours. I have a 20L w/ 30lbs. of LR, BakPak skimmer. No refugium though... I wanted the same type of light, a light that goes on top as opposed to hanging. Anyway, I ended up buying the Current USA Halide you have listed above. I think it's great! It spreads the light out very well, and has a quiet fan (although maybe it just seems that way because my skimmer is so loud ). It was a little more expensive, but I think it was worth it. I have some pictures of my tank with the light that I took for someone else if you'd like to see them. The pics are of the regular light and the blue only, white only, and both moonlights together. If you have any questions about the light I'd be more than happy to help. Good Luck!

-Billy

[bcoons]

Originally posted by Dudester
bcoons - Sorry, man, no comments on your lighting scheme, but I love your opening post with the S.G. listed as 1.0245 . We don't see that very often!

When you use the PinPoint Salinity Monitor you can get measurements down to that level of precision. Ya gotta get one, man. No self respecting gadget freak should be without one!

[bcoons]

Originally posted by Billy1234
I have some pictures of my tank with the light that I took for someone else if you'd like to see them. The pics are of the regular light and the blue only, white only, and both moonlights together. If you have any questions about the light I'd be more than happy to help. Good Luck!

-Billy

Billy - Thanks, I was hoping that someone with that SunPod MH light would respond. Yes, I'd love to see your pics. How do you like that Current USA fixture? How does it mount above your tank? Any heat problems? Do you miss anything by not having and PC actinics? What kind of corals do you have in your setup? Have I got a million questions?

Thanks again for responding.

[melev]

bcoons, here's my opinion. It is a 20g Long, thus quite shallow. PC lights will work just fine, and are good for 12 months. Since you plan to upgrade within a year, why add the extra expense? Almost anything will live fine under PCs. I had 165w (3 x 55w) over my 29g for three years, and my tank did great with SPS, a clam, and a BTA, along with the rest of my corals and fish.

For calcium & alkalinity, I'd recommend you buy a gallon of B-Ionic (2 part solution) to keep up with the needs of your tank. It will maintain Ca, Alk, and pH daily, and a gallon should dose that tank for a year.

The new lights and the B-Ionic will run you roughly $200. Not bad at all.

[bcoons]

Thanks for popping in, Marc. I was hoping you would. You confirmed my thinking that a shallow tank like mine would be able to use the PCs vs the MH light. But I wanted/needed to hear it from someone that had done it. I read so much, and get so many different opinions in the different books, that I like to see what the current thinking among the folks on this forum is.

[melev]

If you'll look on my Hidden Treasures page, you can review all the pages related to the 29g reef, most especially the Tank Progression page. That one will show you the variety of livestock I kept with PC lighting and B-Ionic. If I were you, I'd go that route. I did have a small fan blowing on my sump, to cool the tank. However, the fixtures you linked will stand off the top of the tank so heat won't be a problem. Do not use the glass top - it traps heat and inhibits oxygen exchange.

[Billy1234]

Originally posted by melev
bcoons, here's my opinion. It is a 20g Long, thus quite shallow. PC lights will work just fine, and are good for 12 months. Since you plan to upgrade within a year, why add the extra expense? Almost anything will live fine under PCs. I had 165w (3 x 55w) over my 29g for three years, and my tank did great with SPS, a clam, and a BTA, along with the rest of my corals and fish.

For calcium & alkalinity, I'd recommend you buy a gallon of B-Ionic (2 part solution) to keep up with the needs of your tank. It will maintain Ca, Alk, and pH daily, and a gallon should dose that tank for a year.

The new lights and the B-Ionic will run you roughly $200. Not bad at all.

I do agree with Marc, to some degree. The 20L is shallow, and I'm sure he's right that PC lights will work fine. However, my opinion is if budget allows you, you should go with the halide. It's has a nice 14k color which gives it a little blue-ish glow to it, making it look as if you had actinics. It has 12 lunar lights, with a seperate switch for each, built in which, at night, looks really good beacuse it makes everything glow. If you plan to upgrade within a year, you can always sell it and get back most of the money you spent. What PC light are you looking for anyway?

This is a pic of the small GSP I have taken under the lunar lights:




-Billy

[bcoons]

Billy - Thanks for the pic and the further input. The color issue is one that I had been concerned about.

Couple of detailed questions on your MH SunPod.

1. Did you mount it using the legs that came with it and did it fit over the tank with no problems?

2. Do you have any heat issues? If the fan noise is comparable to the BakPak noise, I can live with that. (Boy, the BakPak 2R is another whole story. I was pretty disapointed in it's performance. I had to add a wooden airstone to it to get it to work at all.)

I do like the idea of the two colored separately controlled LEDs.

The PCs I'm looking at are the Coralife and the Current USA models I've linked to up in my original post.

I'm still torn between the two modes. Budget is not a big issue. I'm thinking the PCs will do the job, but I'm leaning toward the MH just because it seems like more/better light. It may boil down to heat and convienience issues.

I'm probably only the bazillionth new reefer that has had to go through this decision.

[JHipkin]

How about a 70 watt MH combined w/ four T5 bulbs w/ reflectors. Check out the following:

http://nanotuners.nanocustoms.com/na...roducts_id=223

and

http://nanotuners.nanocustoms.com/na...roducts_id=165

It would be a little pricey at approximately $350, but this combination, w/ a little adjustment, would fit nicely over your tank, not create to much heat, and provide both the shimmer of HM and the efficiency of the T5s. You can also stagger the firing of the lights to create sunrise / sunset scenarios.

[Billy1234]

1. Did you mount it using the legs that came with it and did it fit over the tank with no problems?

- Yes, I used the legs it came with, and you just slide the legs in and it fits right on top.

Do you have any heat issues? If the fan noise is comparable to the BakPak noise, I can live with that. (Boy, the BakPak 2R is another whole story. I was pretty disapointed in it's performance. I had to add a wooden airstone to it to get it to work at all.)

- No heat issues.. the glass halide cover sits about 4" above my water level and my temperature stays stable at 81*. I don't even hear the fan over the noise of my skimmer.



In person the sides are more lit up... it doesn't show it too well here as I do not have the best camera. If budget is not an issue.. I would definitely get this halide.

- Billy