dont know what too get..

[Deividas Jeskevicius]

hello, i have a 130g and as you can see i have a 42'' coral life florecent light..
[=----10,000K---/----10,000K----=]
[=--65W actanic/-65W actanic---=]....witch looks like that under the hood, i know i need an upgrade so i can keep more corals, and i would like some advice on what i should get..this is my first salt water aquarium and im taking it slow, and now im ready too start packing this bad boy with corals

[ckusnierek]

Well as you are you can keep must softies buy 2 400w halides would allow you to keep anything...

I say 400 because that tank looks deep. If it's 24" or less tall you would go with 250w

[ckusnierek]

Oh and WELCOME TO TRT!!!

[Loverotties]

Welcome to TRT! what are the dimensions of the tank?

[Deividas Jeskevicius]

it is 2 feet deep, 5.2 feet wide, 2 feet long... so u would recommend i go with two 250w MH? ....and if so my florecent wouldint even be necessary?

[ckusnierek]

Correct about the PC. But 2x250w may not give you the coverage you will need.

Being a corner tank you may want to go T5HO and vary the bulb length. Longer in the front and smaller in the back...

[Deividas Jeskevicius]

like you say the 250w wouldint be enuff and i would need something in the back....what if i buy 2x250w MH's and push my PC into the back.. thus giving the MH's the front where they need too reatch the deeper water and the PC where the live rock is high up in the back..would you think that would work out?

[ckusnierek]

Is you keep only soft corals under the PC that would work...

[Deividas Jeskevicius]

if the PC wont support hard corals even in the back then its not woth trying too keep it, i could just put it too use for my 55 freshwater.... so if i put 2x400w MH's in there it would work great right?...and another question: as the MH's take up ALOT of watts, i dont want too kill the electric bill..is there any thing that would work as good as 2x400w? but mabie be alittle easyer on the bill.

[Austintatious]

Originally Posted by Deividas Jeskevicius

if the PC wont support hard corals even in the back then its not woth trying too keep it, i could just put it too use for my 55 freshwater.... so if i put 2x400w MH's in there it would work great right?...and another question: as the MH's take up ALOT of watts, i dont want too kill the electric bill..is there any thing that would work as good as 2x400w? but mabie be alittle easyer on the bill.

well with electricity currently being around 11 cents per KW hour... if you have 2 400 watt lights going for 10 hours a day, that is $ .96 per day... so 30.00 per month or so.

[collin]

mh get really hot so if you buy mh you might need a chiller i would go with t5 i have those and i keep sps lsp soft w.e you want

[Fat Tony]

I wouldn't go with 400 watt MH. With modern reflectors there is really no reason to go over 250 watts. Use a pair of 250's with a good reflector such as Lumen Max Elite, Lumenarc, Lumen Bright and you will get plenty of coverage if you mount it high enough above the tank. I have a 135 and I use 150 watt MH over each end of my tank and that is plenty of light for the corals with the Lumen Max reflectors.

[Deividas Jeskevicius]

i see, so what if i whent out too home depot and bought myself the lights there because ive seen 250w and 500w MH in stock and if i just bought a reflecter it would come out too be extemly cheep..rather then just buing it from a fish store..would that work out?

[Fat Tony]

I wouldn't recommend that. Buy a quality electronic ballast and good reflectors. it will save you time and headaches in the future. Industrial reflectors aren't designed for our systems and the magnetic ballasts are ok but are inefficient. Bulbs are important and you really need a bulb that is designed for our tanks in the spectrums we need.

[Deividas Jeskevicius]

yeah thats what i was thinking, but im still gana reaserch on the spectrums the fish store sells and the one i can construct myself...it just seems too me alot of aquarium equipment is over rated now.. with what u can make youself..they sell for hundreds in the stores...thank you alot guys