Halides

Thanks for the link man. I like that better - and looks much easier to deal with if I use the Sunlight Reef Optix 3 Doulbe End 150 watt HQI Pendant: Premium Aquatics

 

+1 and T5s seem to always get compared to really old school MH setups rather than newer ones. I'm a big fan of MH over T5s, they give a shimmer effect that you just can't get from T5s

 

clams not doing well under t5?? Serious? I have seen clams get burned up bad by mh. You can do what ever you want. I was giving my opinion. I have t5 and had them 24" above a clam that was triving like crazy. Now I have them above acros and clams and everything is going crazy. They are just the novas too. No ir or super expensive bulbs. You could get some t5s for much cheaper then mh. DIY or not. Heat will be an issue. Unless you get a 400$ chiller of have some kind of giant box fan next to it. Good luck though.

75 gal with hot5 no ir.

 

my 15gals, crappy camera sorry.

 

Look into the ReefLux 12K lamps.

 

In a 30G DT, I wouldn't go with anything more than 150w MH/HQI. More than that, you do run the risk of burning up your livestock as mentioned earlier. I have a 70w HQI on my 20G and that is enough for my fish and anemone. I was told by Hamilton that 150w would be borderline too much for a 20G. As for what type of bulbs, if you run 10000K bulbs, you will want to supplement with your T5 actinics. If you run 14000K bulbs, then you won't need to supplement with actinics. One thing to keep in mind, the higher in K rating you go, the less light penetration you will get deeper into the tank, i.e. less PAR value. 20000K bulbs look great, but unless you have a high wattage (400w+) setup, crocea clams will have a harder time surviving in a 50g tank, as compared to a 250w 14000K setup in the same tank, for example.

 

Good call. I think I'm going to stick with T5's on this setup, and take the information I've learned and go big in a few months. I'm acquiring a 125 gallon and I'm going to use a halide system on that.