250W MH Bulb??? yes?
- Thread starter RiverRay
- Start date
right now its a 20g long. it was my starter tank to lern more before shutting it down and upgrading to my 55g tank that i has nothing in it. was a random fw but thinking about adding it but before i do i want to know if the light is a good size for the 20long and the 55. plan on addig LED in the future to mix with the MH if it works. im just not having any luck with the T5 for my rose bubble anemome.
PIMPALA
Well-Known Member
man, i had a 150w over my 20L, and it was almost excessive. even over a foot off of the water. i think a 250 would be WAY too much. Ive had nems do awesome under T5 lights. got any pics of your setup?
my 20L is 30 1/4 x 12 1/2 x 12 3/4
and my 55g is 48 1/4 x12 3/4 x21
my nem has been in my tank for at least 6months and doing fine. it sits by my window to get more light. ph nitrates and everything is normal. nothing wrong with water also skimmer is working just fine. everything is healthy but the nem.. i looked it up and it said it lacks light.. i feed it twice a week various foods i broadcast stew i get from my lfs for my feather dusters, slug and urchin also the pink xena. also i have alot of starter corals. would like to go into hard coral someday. so upgrading my light is indeed a must. i just dont know if its to much for the 20?
i wont be switching ot the 55 till i become more knowledgeable in more areas.
also a second opinion is always a key before doing something.
and my 55g is 48 1/4 x12 3/4 x21
my nem has been in my tank for at least 6months and doing fine. it sits by my window to get more light. ph nitrates and everything is normal. nothing wrong with water also skimmer is working just fine. everything is healthy but the nem.. i looked it up and it said it lacks light.. i feed it twice a week various foods i broadcast stew i get from my lfs for my feather dusters, slug and urchin also the pink xena. also i have alot of starter corals. would like to go into hard coral someday. so upgrading my light is indeed a must. i just dont know if its to much for the 20?
i wont be switching ot the 55 till i become more knowledgeable in more areas.
also a second opinion is always a key before doing something.
catran
Well-Known Member
I had a difficult time understand SW tanks at first. Of course, I thought I had a decent understanding of how the water chemistry works but in the short time I have had SW tanks, I have really started to understand just how forgiving my FW tanks were. The balance is so difficult. I thought that if my nitrates were low, I was ok. The fact is, that they should be at 0. It took an open brain, 2 peppermint shrimp, and a couple of zoa's to really understand that. Now, I freak out and do a water change if I see any nitrates. If you need help, you need to give the people that can help you very, very specific infomation. Such as, you water parameters:
Nitrites
Nitrates
Phosphates
pH
Alkalinity
Salinity
Also, maybe I'm misunderstanding what you wrote. What I see, is that you got food from your LFS to target feed your xenia, nem, urchin, feather duster and slug. You should be feeding your nem chopped up (according to his size) clam, shrimp, silversides, krill, or mussells.
Coral can die over days, weeks, or months. The problem is that I know that I'm not trained to notice every change in every coral and sometimes, once they start to die, you don't notice it. Then, by the time you do, it may be too late. Hopefully, yours will be okay. Has his color faded, say gotten lighter? I'm wondering why your nem would go towards a window and not try to climb higher to the light that's closer?
Anyone else have an idea?
Nitrites
Nitrates
Phosphates
pH
Alkalinity
Salinity
Also, maybe I'm misunderstanding what you wrote. What I see, is that you got food from your LFS to target feed your xenia, nem, urchin, feather duster and slug. You should be feeding your nem chopped up (according to his size) clam, shrimp, silversides, krill, or mussells.
Coral can die over days, weeks, or months. The problem is that I know that I'm not trained to notice every change in every coral and sometimes, once they start to die, you don't notice it. Then, by the time you do, it may be too late. Hopefully, yours will be okay. Has his color faded, say gotten lighter? I'm wondering why your nem would go towards a window and not try to climb higher to the light that's closer?
Anyone else have an idea?
jpsika08
Well-Known Member
Cat, with 16" height it would be overkill, maybe a 150watts and hang it a little higher than usual so it doesn't fry your corals.
jpsika08
Well-Known Member
For the 20 I would stay with T5's with just 12" height no MH would be recommendable.
For the 55 it's ok to go with a 150 watts.
The major problem with MH is heat and in a small tank which is already susceptible to sudden changes because of the small water volume this can be disastrous. I completely agree with Juan go with T5's or LED's in the smaller 20 or 150 watts in the 55, don't go 250w unless your going with a chiller or you can keep the ambient temp cool in the summertime and can run some fans IMHO.
Cat would you be able to suspend the fixture a couple of feet above the tank. If your going to place it in a canopy or a hood close to the water surface I would not recommend it.
I've ran MH over a smaller tank and I can tell you it CAN be a challenge keeping things stable. Heat increases which also increases your EVAP rate. I say if you want MH go for 150w or 70w but IMHO revisit your T5's (better bulbs, IND reflectors etc) and stay there.
Anemone are notorious for looking/acting great in newer tanks for months and then out of the blue simply going down hill suddenly for no reason. I do admit it very well could be (and likely is) needing more light and starving to death. If that is the case a MH upgrade is in your future.
Anemone are notorious for looking/acting great in newer tanks for months and then out of the blue simply going down hill suddenly for no reason. I do admit it very well could be (and likely is) needing more light and starving to death. If that is the case a MH upgrade is in your future.
This is my frag tank.It is a 20g with a 175h on it.I have it tied into the sump of my main tank so my water moves alot so the heat hasn't been a issue,but I do not reccomend putting even a 150 over a 20g due to the amount of heat it will put out.If mine wasn't hooked up the way i have it my water would get really really hot and cook everything.most of the corals in the tank are sps so they can take the light but if i had chalices or most low light corals wont make it in there.I'm by no means a pro just some things i dealt with putting a halide over a 20g.I would go with t'5s.
PIMPALA
Well-Known Member
i would recommend a pair of 75, or 150 as opposed to the higher wattage single bulb. on a 36" tank, a center light leaves massive shadows on the edges unless you mount it very high...
here is my 20L (before it was turned into a mantis tank) with a 150W HQI 15k bulb.
you can see how far from the surface it was, and i still figured that it was a little overkill, so i switched to a T5 setup.
Also... no one has mentioned it yet, but a 20L is WAY too small for an RBTA. If either of mine were in a 20L it would not only cover more than 1/2 of the tank, but it would pretty much kill everything else in there.
what type of flow do you have? what powerheads? have you tried to change flow to the nem? they are VERY picky creatures.