placement of halide

I'm in process of hanging my 250 W 18000 K Krystal Star halide lamp. The depth of the tank is 16 inches, but sand takes up about 3 inches of that. How far above the tank should I place the lamp?

I don't have any inhabitants at the moment, just tank, sand and water.

Thanks for any advice

 

Matters what corals you have currently. Anywhere from 6" to 12" from water surface.

 

Matters what corals you have currently

Nothin but sand water, but thanks, I'll place lamp 6 in over water surface for time being.

 

hello from Kokomo!!!! MARRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

 

Mine are a good 2 foot from the water in my 55 and it works out nicely. Don't get them too close, splashing water on the bulb can cause it to break!

 

Most manufactors will recommend as Otty stated, 6-18" from the water surface, depending on what you have for corals. Splashing is a concern, granted w/ DE bulbs you have a splash shield(UV shield really) but if I remember correctly you have a SE bulb.... Everyone I know that has SE still places them under a foot away and when they do their maintainence they wipe the bulbs down-when fully cooled of course.

Good luck

 

The usual recs I hear are 8 to 10 inches, but I used to do this thing where I took the pendant and aimed it at the wall and pulled back until the spot nearly matched the diameter of the tank and then measured that. It was always close to these recs for me and it always made me more comfortable about where I was placing it. FWIW

 

Another thing to consider is that such a high K rated bulb will reach less into the tank as compared to a 10000-14000K bulb. With a 30G tank, I'm guessing it needs to be about 10-12" above the water. You don't want it too close, as it will really heat up your water since you are really dealing with about 20G of water with a semi-deep sand bed. Do you have a chiller for your tank or plan on getting one?

 

I have my 2x250w 14000K 11" above the surface