Lighting upgrade...need some advice

[markak15]

I'm looking to upgrade the lighting on my 20 gal long FOWLR tank so I can finally add some soft corals. Right now it looks like I can't go wrong with a 30" Orbit power compact. You get the daylight, actinic and moonlight for around $150. I know nothing about Orbit lighting...is this a quality product?
I was also wondering how people usually set up the tank with the Orbit light. Right now i have a standard hood on the tank, like you would have for a freshwater aquarium. I am assuming I could just replace the old hood with a simple glass cover and then put the new light on top of that? (it comes with legs). Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

mark

[markak15]

okay...no one is answering that question so I'll ask a new one. how many organisms can you pack into a 20 gal aquarium? I have a pseudochromis, a brittle star, and 2 shrimp. I've had this set up for a few weeks and it seems to be extremely stable. Nitrates are 0, pH is perfect, etc. etc. If I add a crab and another fish will that overload the system?

[Krux]

how long ago did you start the system?

i have had a lot of stuff in a 20 before, as for how much can you cram in there... it really depends on the effeciency of your protien skimmer.

do you have a sump on it?

for around 150 you could buy a nice 70 watt or 150 watt halide pendant system. personally, i would go that route.

[mzzmorgan]

Hey there,
How many watts does the orbit fixture have? I just got a 130 watt pc fixture for my 20 gal, and everything is doing really well. In my 20 gal I have a clownfish, a pseudochromis, a mandarin, a few crabs, various corals, an anemone, several plants... With frequent water changes you can pack stuff in!! Let us know...

[jlscrug]

I have a 16 gal bowfront with the 20" orbit fixture. Thriving inhabitants include:

six line wrasse
percula clown
30+ various snails
12 hermits (blue and red)
Xenia elongata (that I am having to frag at least every two weeks)
pom pom xenia - started with two now have 7 in 3 months
couple blue and red discosoma
5-6 ricordea that I have fragged and regrew
3 colts (two are frags)
many and various zoanthid colonies
gold crown sarcophyton
hairbrush sarcophyton x2
red finger gorgonian
3-4 colonies of green stars
coralline algae everywhere

So, IMO the orbit fixture is plenty of light unless you want some SPS that may need higher light. Go to Reef Central and look under 'All things Salty with Anthony Calfo' and check out his nano...18W of PC and he has SPS!

[gitsumpottery]

A 20g long is 30" correct? I would figure out what you want to keep ultimately and then look at lighting options. With such a shallow tank you could have a very sucessful reef with VHO alone , but I have a 16" deep tank and I run halides so go figure....

PC's are nice, but I much prefer VHO or even look at t5's. I've ran both pcs and vhos, but have heard a lot of good things about t5's.

Zac

[RobinsonFam1]

i have a 5 bow with a 20w pc, sps grow well and are happy.
i will be upgrading to 2) 20w pc this week and eventually halide.
if you go with sps try to stay with some of the more light tolerant species. Acros tend to be very needy with high light (halide) so you might want to keep that in mind too.