lighting questions

[john]

I am setting up a 55 gallon tank, and I was looking at a power compact fixture that totals 220W- 2 10k and 2 blue acintic. Is this too little light for clams and SPS? What about anemones? Also, I just ordered a power compact fixture (110W) for my wife's 30 gallon- is this enough for an anenome? Thanks for the help!

[john]

Whats a good price for a halide canopy? This one is $400, is that normal?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46314&item=4341292 507&rd=1

[matt]

John;

Not sure you're asking for this sort of advice, but if you're wanting to set up a fairly small reef tank I'd use something different than the 55 gallon. That shape tank is very difficult to light with any efficiency and aquascaping is tough. It's really long and skinny; good for florescent tubes, not good for mh bulbs. If possible, go with a 36" X18" tank instead; either 45 breeder or 58 gallon. Then you can use 2 mh bulbs to get really good light throughout the whole tank; actually 1 400W bulb with the right reflector would do the job. Everything about this shape tank is better for a reef; rock placement, water movement, sand bed size.

If you must stay with the 55 gallon (48X12) I would not spend a lot of money on the hood; either do the 4 X 55W PC bulbs you're thinking of and limit the animals you keep, or find mini-pendents to hang over the tank so you can use them when you switch to a better tank shape.

[prof]

The ebay price is not bad. Remember that you still have to buy $150 worth of MH bulbs. Check out www.hellolights.com for lighting.

I like to build my own.

A 55g will work fine. Most people do prefer wide/deep(front to back) and shallow tanks for corals.

[Jenn]

Hi John. If you have the cash, go straight to MH. I have power compacts on my system and constantly have to make sure that the colors are ok on my clams and anemones as well as buy new lights every 6 months to keep the spectrum up. I also have too create a ledge high up in the tank for them to sit on - which costs more in liverock purchases. It would have been much easier if I would have just invested in a MH system. But as Matt said, the size of the tank will also be something to consider.

[GaryP]

John,

I know some people will disagree with me on this, but as a rough estimate try calculating your watts per gallon. I wouldn't recommend SPS and clams for a tank with less than 6 watts/gallon. There are a lot of other factors to consider such as depth and colors. For example, actinics don't put out as much light per watt as white bulbs so. All I know is that everyone I know that has corals under power compacts is always talking about upgrading to MHs. I think MHs are a good supplement to MHs, but not necessarily as primary lighting. For the record, I use MHs with VHO actinics as a supplement.

Gary