Lighting for 30 cube??? help

[mkengr45]

I am setting up a 30 cube I bought from Josh. I currently have 3 65w PC's over my 37 that I am taking down. My pc's will not fit in the canopy for the cube, but a metal halide will. I plan on using a single 250w metal halide in the canopy. My question is this: What bulb should I use if I do not plan to run additional actinic lighting? Am I making a mistake in not usng any extra actinic? I like the bluish tint, so should I go with a 20k, or does anyone have opinions about 14k? I will be using a single ended bulb. Also where should I get the halide bulb from? The ballast will be an icecap. Somebody please point me in the right direction, I have no friggin experience with halides. I currently have zoos, brains, shrooms, pagodas, etc... I would like to keep a clam and some SPS. Thanks for the guidance.

Randy

[cpreefguy]

Greg "360reef" has awesome deals on halide retros. I would shoot him a PM and ask him about it. If you want a more bluish look I would go with a 20k bulb. Just keep in mind that the higher you go on the Kelvin scale, the less light output you get. A 250w 20k on a 30 cube would be awesome for SPS.

[GaryP]

Ordinarily I don't recommend 20K bulbs as a single source of light because of their relatively low PAR (photosynthetic available radiaton) value. However, since its going over a 30 gal. I think it would be a relatively good choice. You are going to have so much light for that size tank that it would probably make up for the lower PAR value.

I've run Blueline 14K bulbs in the past. My opinion was that the color was good, but I didn't get the growth I was used to because of the lower PAR value. I went to a 10K when they 14K were due for replacement. I run actinic VHOs on that tank as well. I think the 14K would be a good choice too. A compromise between color and PAR.

Gary

[360Reef]

I currently have the same tank, Oceanic 30 cube, setup at my daughters school as a mixed reef and I am running 4 24" T5's over it and the tank is rocking. Wait I did to make up for the length was to extend the canopy about 4" over the back and ran the bulbs front to back. I will be glad to take pictures next time I am there if you want to check it out. The thing I like about the T5's are very little heat which equates to no fan and slow evaporation.

-Greg