a question of balance

Discussion in 'Reef Lighting' started by heavy K, Dec 17, 2006.

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  1. heavy K

    heavy K Plankton

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2006
    Messages:
    19
    Location:
    S.E. Mi
    Hello all,
    In the quest to get my 70g (48x18x18) reef tank set up I was wondering about the possibility (or need) of putting 2 different wattage MH lamps over the tank to accommodate a greater variety of corals,polyps,and mushrooms and their specific lighting needs. I currently have 2 coralife 10,000k 40 watt and 2 coralife 03 actinic 40 watt fluorescent lights. I was considering a pair of 175 MH lamps then saw a thread saying that the 250MH lamps were not to much. My concern was frying or bleaching any inhabitants of the tank. So needless to say, but said none the less, I was wondering about running a 175 on one side and a 250 on the other. Well, thanks for reading this and any advice would be appreciated.
     
    heavy K, Dec 17, 2006
    heavy K, Dec 17, 2006
    #1

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  2. coral reefer

    coral reefer Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2006
    Messages:
    4,860
    Location:
    Wonderland
    You won't have a problem with tha. I have something similar to you as I have (2) 250 watt HQI metal halide pendants and (1) 400 watt HQI metal halide pendant on my 125 gallon tank.
    the only thing to be careful with is, acclimating your corals to varying light intensity. You need to acclimate them very slowly to avoid to much oxidation -resulting in bleaching! A addition of iodine will go along way in helping to reduce this often fatal condition(bleaching)
    ...
     
    coral reefer, Dec 17, 2006
    coral reefer, Dec 17, 2006
    #2