vresor
04/21/2012, 07:15 AM
The round disco ball fixture over my 20 inch cube leaves dark corners and I want to improve the distribution of light across the tank. While the glass is 20 x 20 inches, this is an all-in-one design (Solana) with about 5 inches of sump in the back that does not need lit. That leaves an effective surface area of 15 x 20 inches. I would love to put a 250 watt in a Lumenmax Elite over it, but at 14.5 inches it is just too big.
The market seems to have plenty of choices for big reflectors and many choices for small reflectors (like the stock disco ball, Sunpod, FishNeedIt, etc.), but not so much in between. Before I just choose one like the Hamilton Reefstar, CoralVue 250 or beautiful Giesemann Nova, is there a rule of thumb about the size ratio between the tank and the fixture?
What I'm trying to avoid is spilling a ton of light out into my room by having a fixture too big for my tank. It was easy in the LED world because optic angle is one of the main variables. Far less so in the MH world. Thank you.
The market seems to have plenty of choices for big reflectors and many choices for small reflectors (like the stock disco ball, Sunpod, FishNeedIt, etc.), but not so much in between. Before I just choose one like the Hamilton Reefstar, CoralVue 250 or beautiful Giesemann Nova, is there a rule of thumb about the size ratio between the tank and the fixture?
What I'm trying to avoid is spilling a ton of light out into my room by having a fixture too big for my tank. It was easy in the LED world because optic angle is one of the main variables. Far less so in the MH world. Thank you.