150W MH & T5 combo ... Too much light for Nano ?

Apollo

Apollo

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Hi Guys,

I've been thinking of upgrading the lights on my 60liter Nano for a while now.
The existing reflector hood doesn't allow any real modification and cooling would become a huge issue in anyway.

The only corals I currently have are Mushrooms , Green button polyps , Mycedium and Green star polyps, although the aim is to keep some Monti's , Acro's and Milleporas at a later stage

I've seen there are various light fixture combo's available that would fit my Nano quite nicely.

The combo I'm looking at is 1 x 150W HQI MH (10K) , 2 x 32W PL Tubes (Actinic/White).

Would this be too much light for a 60liter Nano ? :p

Also, what would be the ideal K rating for the MH (14/18/20K) ?

Lastly does anyone have experience with the Sunpod/Sundial range of light fixtures and are these available in RSA ?
 
Personally I think it is a little over kill, but if you can manage to keep the tanks temperature within a reasonable level then its fine... at least you will be able to keep the acros etc. How would you keep the temp down?

I like 14000 K- its not too blue, but blue enough
 
Monti said:
Personally I think it is a little over kill, but if you can manage to keep the tanks temperature within a reasonable level then its fine... at least you will be able to keep the acros etc. How would you keep the temp down?

I like 14000 K- its not too blue, but blue enough
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Thanks Monti,

I'm currently busy with a fan cooling system in anyway, since the hot Gauteng summer does cause the tank temp to shoot up to 29 deg.
I will have to do a bit of experimenting to see what works best.

Alternatively a chiller will be the way to go.

I assume that I could also replace the existing 150W MH with a 70W HQI globe and the 2 x 32W PL's can be replaced with 2 x 18 W.

This should lower the light intensity a bit
 
I say the more light the better. It wont do any harm to the livestock and can never be overkill.
 
Suhayl said:
I say the more light the better. It wont do any harm to the livestock and can never be overkill.
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I'm with Suhayl on this one although ESKOM will disagree.
 
Apollo - for your tank I would rather go for 6 x 39 watt (3 foot) T5's..... Metal halides are awesome for deeper tanks. In a 60 litre, the tank is not really deep enough to justify the Metal halide usage.....
 
Apollo said:
Mhhmm... some options to consider . :p
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You can do Apollo, but it ain't going be any great benefit. I have loads of light in my main display and my 62g Nano runs 2 x 24w fluorescents, I move coral between the 2 all the time.

The only ones that really suffer are the SPS, all the rest are just as happy under the low intensity lighting.

So unless clams, SPS and/or nemmies are on your shopping list, you just going have a very bright tank ;)
 
Warr7207 said:
You can do Apollo, but it ain't going be any great benefit. I have loads of light in my main display and my 62g Nano runs 2 x 24w fluorescents, I move coral between the 2 all the time.

The only ones that really suffer are the SPS, all the rest are just as happy under the low intensity lighting.

So unless clams, SPS and/or nemmies are on your shopping list, you just going have a very bright tank ;)
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Warr,

I recently had a look at another nano forum , and I see that there are quite a few folks with Nano's as small as 10g running 70W MH & T5/PL combo's.

My aim with the nano is for a full reef tank which will ideally include Monti's , Acro and Millepora .

Hence my question regarding the MH's.

I'll take your advice to heart though , since the last thing I want is an incredible bright tank which looks ..... well too unnaturally bright .

I'll have a look at the T5 option which Jacques suggested. Only possible problem will be the length of the T5 tubes. My Nano is only 400mm wide , so I would need a fixture which can clip onto the tank sides or similar.

:)
 
jacquesb said:
You can achieve the same with T5's Apollo. Look at Shaun (Thalion)'s tank - he ONLY has T5's - no METAL halides.....
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OK. T5's is the route I'll go then.

Jacques, you mentioned 6 x 39W T5's . So can I take it that it would be 3 white and 3 actinic tubes ?

Now, just to find a pendant and mounting legs to fit the Nano.:p
 
Hi Apollo - no - I would go 4 whites and 2 blue/actinics :)

BTW: there are many splendid SPS only tanks being run on T5's only.... You should see IMarine's tank - BUT, he is a bit shy too to show his tank off ;)

:thumbup:
 
jacquesb said:
Hi Apollo - no - I would go 4 whites and 2 blue/actinics :)

BTW: there are many splendid SPS only tanks being run on T5's only.... You should see IMarine's tank - BUT, he is a bit shy too to show his tank off ;)

:thumbup:
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Thanks Jacques.

For now I'll just stick to the corals I already have and make sure they stay happy and grow. The GHA appears to be under control and residing slowly for now, so I'm not going to scrub and cook the LR just yet.

SPS ... well that's still a few months down the line.

Question: Wouldn't 4 whites make the water look too "white" ?

Only reason I ask is that with my current 2 x 18W PL tubes (combo white-blue) I find that the LR appears too "white"
 
I have 150 MH and 2 x T5s on my 110 Nano, and it is great but yeah a little overkill. The real reason I went for the MH, as I don't have any SPS apart from some monties, is the ripples the light creates. I love that natural look.
 
Ross said:
I have 150 MH and 2 x T5s on my 110 Nano, and it is great but yeah a little overkill. The real reason I went for the MH, as I don't have any SPS apart from some monties, is the ripples the light creates. I love that natural look.
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Thanks Ross,

Yes , the ripple effect it creates in the water is also what prompted me to look at the MH's for my Nano.

I've just discovered that even trying to fit T5's to my Nano is going to be a problem.
The Nano (Boyu TL450) is not wide enough to accomodate T5's. Only 80% of the T5 tube will be supplying useful light into the water. The other 20% will be shining on the outside of the tank.:(

This was another reason I wanted to go with 70W MH and PL tube combo. This combo will fit without the need for any further mod.

Have a look at these pics of a 12g Nano from RC. This guy runs 1 x 70W MH , 2 x 24W PL (Blue/White ) combo's. I personally like the look the MH creates in his tank and the Monti's and Birdsnest seem to agree.

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contest01.jpg


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Well, I still need to think about a few things before deciding on the light mod for my Nano.

In the end it will pretty much come down to what will fit (and look neat) and the overall effect on the appearance of the tank.:p

But, it's interesting nonetheless to see what other folks outside of RSA get up to with their Nano's .

Picoreefs (less than 10g) appear to be a popular choice also for a lot of folks in the USA and Europe.
Amazing to see what these guys get up to when they stock their tanks with corals.

:)
 
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