what to buy?

[jc]

I have some christmas money coming my way and I was day dreaming about putting some corals in my 75 gallon tank. The inhabitants are 1 ocellaris clown, 2 firefish, a clown goby, and some small inverts (except one large cowrie). Right now I have 130 watt 50/50 pc lights. I would like to try to keep some zoos, polyps, and mushrooms. My questions to you is what lights should I buy? My odyssea equipment works well for me and I was thinking of either the 20" 223W Metal Halide Fixture or 48" 260W Dual Strip Compact Fluorescent Light Fixture. Anything I keep in the tank would probably be at the mid level and maybe at the bottom. These would be in addition to the light I already have.

[alton]

The corals you mentioned would do fine under CF's. If you just added one MH you would have uneven lighting with a hot spot in the middle. Add two and it would look great.

[jc]

Would the MH light support any types of clams? Also would I have to take the glass lid and wooden canopy off the tank because of the heat?

[cbianco]

Personally, I think that it would be wise to spend your money on lighting instead of livestock.

MH will support clams. As Alton said earlier, it would be best to get two MH lights to balance out the tank (depending on spectrum you may want actinic supplementation). Although you can remove the canopy and glass cover you may regret it later. The canopy is a great way to hide your lighting and the glass will help with evaporation due to the higher intensity and hotter temperature lamps.

It would probably be a good idea to wait until you actually receive the "Christmas Funds" before you make your final choice of lighting, this way you know how much money you are working with :) .

Hope this helps! :)

Christopher

[blueboy]

depending on your hood, you may be able to work with it. i prefer to use a hood because it keeps the light from flooding the room. the glass, i would lose because it blocks a fair amount of light, but if you remove both the glass, and hood, then you may have problems with your firefish jumping out, they are known for that. as far as which light to get, the CF's would support the types of softies you mentioned, but they are pretty much be limited to. with the halides you would have many more options with livestock. so, you need to decide exactly what you want to keep, but keep in mind that this hobby tends to "snowball" and as i said earlier, the MH would give you many more options in the future. even if you could only get one for now, of course this would give you a spotlight effect, but i've seen it done and look really cool. it creates nice low light areas to either side. if you have a center brace, that could complicate things, you'd have to have a bright side, and a shady side. there's alot to consider when buying new lights. good luck

[Dozer]

Just fyi if you decide to get some lights we have a MAAST member who is a dealer for a couple brands (Polkster13). Here's his website: http://www.CoralReefBazaar.com

He's a great guy to work with and can get you some good deals. I run some of the lights he sells and I've been happy with them.

[jc]

Thanks for the replies. I think I am going to have to go with the PC lights. I do have a rather large glass center brace on the tank, so I don't think MH is a good option for me. Not to mention the fact that I won't have enough cash to buy two. If I take the glass canopy off and keep the wooden canopy do I have to worry about water hitting the bulbs? They would be about 4 inches from the water. The light fixture I have now did come with a thin sheet of plastic that attached to the underside of the housing, but I left it off since I had the glass hood.

[GaryP]

Good idea. Equipment should always come before livestock. In the long run you will save money that way. Believe me, I know, and found out the hard way many years ago on a low budget tank my wife affectionately refers to as the "death zone."