Lighting my 29 Gallon

I have a 29 gallon (18" deep) that I would like it to be possible to keep anything, within reason (SPS, LPS, tridacna). Let us say I do not want to be hindered by lighting.

To boil it down ...

6X24W T5HO or
4X24W T5HO + HQI metal halide

I will be custom building this into a custom canopy, and keep in mind that I am also open to other suggestions.

So if I were you and you were me, what would you do? Please keep the discussion only on the lighting ;D

Thanks in advance!

 

4X24W T5HO + HQI metal halide hands down.

 

I would go with the second choice IMO

 

Are you guys really aware of how much lighting that would be on a 29?!?!?!
6X24w would barely fit on your tank, even Aquactinic SLRs are 2" wide, even butt to butt that would be 12 inches wide, the entire width of your tank..... How would you access the tank? Do you really think you would need to light the glass and your equipment. 6 lamps are great if you have an 18" wide tank, which a 29 is not....
Not sure you would even be able to fit a MH and 4x24w on there either... and you would FRY just about every coral you put in there, at least at first...

ONE MH with a higher kelvin rating like a 14000k-20,000k 175w would be MORE than enough, or you could do just 4x24w T5s....

You really need less light than you think. With your setup, montis would bleach as soon as you put them in, most acros wouldn't take it either, so you could keep clams and softies with that, and you would have one hot tank.....

Might want to reconsider you options

Doc

 

a single 150 watt hqi would be just fine on that tank.

 

heck why dont you get a 75W clamp on MH light...forget the name of them right now..but they are cool, have a fan attached and is adjustable for the height.

 

I was thinking the same thing. That's a lot of light for a 29. I have a 29 with the same depth measurement with 4 x 24 watt T5 and I keep softies, LPS and SPS just fine.

 

Hmmm ...

... well a 55 gallon is only two inches deeper at 20". The Current USA Outer Orbit 48" fixture has 4X54 T5HO + 2X150W metal halide, so I am not sure why 4X24 T5HO + 1X150W MH would be excessive on a 29 gallon. Even the 36" Outer Orbit fixtures come with 2X150W MH and the 36" tanks are shallower than my 29 gallon, and not much longer to boot.

For the T5's I will be gutting two Nova Extreme fixtures with reflectors measuring approximately 2.5" per two lamps (not SLR). The metal halide HQI reflector measures 6" wide, which gives a total width of approximately 11". The inside dimension of the plastic at the top of the tank measures 11", so with the lights approximately 3" above that it will be a tight but probably ok fit. Six T5's would fit even better with a total width of only 7.5".

Another option would be 2X24W actinics with a 150W metal halide. 70W HQI MH is also an option.

4X24W T5HO is also another option though I am under the impression from some of the books I have read that MH is "required" for some corals. I do not want to be hindered by my lighting nor later wishing I had MH.

Thanks I really appreciate the feedback. I have been studying the lighting possibilities for several months now and still have not given myself a definitive answer as to want I want!

 

What I would really like to do is run a photo period that includes "morning" and "evening" lighting using the actinics which I wouldn't be able to do with a single MH.

What I currently have in mind is as follows:

8 am actinic T5 on
10 am daylight T5 on
12 noon 14K MH on
4 pm 14K MH off
6 pm daylight T5 off
8 pm actinic T5 off

Feedback on my proposed photo period is also much appreciated. Thanks again in advance!

 

So very true, more is not always better. Too much light will bleach corals in a hurry. My anemone was shocked and bleached after I put it under my 70W HQI (on my 20G) and hid from the light for months. It took a long time to get some color back. For an 18" deep tank, you are more that good with T5 only lighting.