PDA

View Full Version : Quick double check on adding more light


Ride Red
01/24/2006, 01:20 PM
Hi:

I'm adding more light to my new 300. It has always been in the general plan. I was waiting till all the bad algae went the way of the Dodo and the tank was stable. Currently it has 2x250w 10k MH on the ends and 2x220w Jebo HO mixed running the length of the tank. I had all of the lights from old projects. This left the middle of the tank, between the 2 center overflows a little dark, forcing me to place the high light corals and clams on the ends. After looking around I've decided to add a 400w 20k MH for the center section. I was floating between a 400w or a 250w. I was going to go with a 250w to keep the heat down, but since I've added a 250w heater to the sump and still have not seen temps higher than 77 I think I'm OK with the 400w without having to worry about a chiller. I never even installed the fans I bought in the hood. I also think the 20K will look good since the tank is heavily favored to the 10k end of the spectrum. Ideally, I'd like 13k bulbs for all the MH, but the old ones still have 5 months or so left in them.

Am I missing anything? Opinions?

I'll probably pull the trigger tonight.

Thanks,

Bruce

Entropy
01/24/2006, 03:57 PM
I would go with another 250w 10k bulb in the middle so the lighting is more even. It sounds like you are going to have a nice bright 400w blue spot in the middle of the tank, fading to 10k ends. I prefer the lighting to be even across the tank, but that is a personal preference.

Ride Red
01/24/2006, 10:06 PM
Thanks Rich,

I'm still mixed.

I like the idea of a very high lighting area for the critters that can benefit from it, but am also concerned about the mixed look.

Ideally, I'd like 4x250 for the tank using my existing 2 250s, but the way the overflows are arranged it just doesn't work well. Alternatively 3x400 would be great, but $$$.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...