Lighting A 29 Gallon BioCube

[princer7]

I am looking to upgrade the lighting for a BioCube I ordered. Not sure about how much lighting to go with - Don't want to be too limited in what I eventually put in the tank. Should I go with doubling the same lighting to the hood or go with a 150w or 250w (is this too strong?) halide pendant?

[BioCube14]

heat is the main thing you need to worry about. Nanoreef.com should help you out.

[erikharrison]

if you want to do SPS, you'll probably need that MH.

[hanknmorgan]

I recently added metal halide to my nanocube 12g. I will never go back to PC. My corals are growing great already and the look is just fantastic. Granted, my old bulbs were too old so that doesnt really give a fair comparison. From an economic standpoint PC bulbs need to be replaced every 6 months. If you have alot of PC bulbs in the hood that can get VERY expensive and still not be as good lighting wise as MH. Metal halide bulbs can go about a year (depends on color spectrum) and you only buy one. either option will probably work, but just wanted to share how happy I am with MH. Plus you are limitless at what you can keep in the tank with the superior lighting.

[princer7]

Would 250 watts be overkill? I run MH on my freshwater cichlid tank and really like the way it shimmers.

[hanknmorgan]

I love that metal halide shimmer as well. I am far from an expert on lighting but I have done a bit of reading before designing my hood. I think with the depth of your tank that 150w would probably be sufficient to keep most anything. If it was going to be a strictly SPS tank I would say 250 for sure, but the 150 is probably fine. Especially if you get a 10k or 14k bulb. If you went with a higher 20k bulb you may want to consider the 250 because the PAR output is less for the higher color temp bulbs. That said, I dont think it would hurt anything to go with the 250 as long as you can keep it cool. Some of the other more experienced people may have other opinions though.