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View Full Version : To upgrade lighting or not?


stewie24
02/13/2007, 06:32 PM
Hey all.
Currently running a 10g aga. I have the 70 watt viper hanging over it right now, but the sides are shadowed. (running CA 20k bulb).
I have a few softies/zoos in the tank now, but am leaning towards sps/lps. Tank has been up almost a year. I do have some digitata and pocillapora up high in the tank that seems to be growing great.
I have 2 70 watt electronic ballasts and the regent fixtures. I could do a diy hood/suspending fixture to make sure all of the tank is lit. (probably go with 2x 14k sunpaqs or 2x 14k ushios).
I'm going to be tearing my main tank down that has a dual 175 watt mag ballast w/ reflectors over it. I was thinking about trading the dual ballast for either a single electronic one or perhaps a 150 hqi ballast. (whatever I could get for it).
Would it be better to just do the dual 70 watts or use a single 20k 175 watt higher up?
Would the 175 watt (even tho it'd be up higher) cause that much more evap?
I have a 20L sump/fuge installed with the tank. The viper is probably 4 inches off the surface and I evap about 1/3 a gallon or so a day.
So, for sps/lps in a 10 display/20L sump/fuge, what would be better:
dual 70 watt 14k hqi's
Single 175 watt 20k w/ reflector higher up
single 150 watt hqi 20k in the brinks fixture higher up?

If i went w/ the 175 or 150, i'd have to use whatever I trade the dual 175 watt mag ballast for.

Let me know what you guys think.

herostar
02/14/2007, 02:06 AM
I think that the 2x70w setup would be pretty cool, but I'd go with the 175w setup. I run a 175w hamilton 10k pennant over my 10g and the bulb sits about 10-11" off the top of the water. I evap about 1/4-1/3 gallon per day. I've got 4 different montipora corals and they love it. All my other softies like it too.

stewie24
02/14/2007, 10:23 AM
Thanks herostar. Would you happen to have a pic of your setup? Seems like a fair tradeoff to me. Either 2x 70 watts evaping around 1/2 + gallon a day or else the 175 watt higher up evaping the same as the 70 watt I have right now around 3 inches off the water.
Thanks again. Post a pic if you have one.
Stewie