250 watts 14k phoenix

[firstimer]

do you guys think this is too strong for a 57 rimless?

 

[sutton6989]

the only thing i think u would have to watch with that is the water temp im planning on putting 2 250MH and 2 54W T5 on my 72

 

[inverted]

I'm not sure it would be too much, the problem is, with just 1, you'll have shaded areas to the sides, but should be great in the center. This may be okay, but you'll have to plan accordingly. Any MH will have a tough time covering much more than a 24x24" area or so, depending on the reflector and height of the reflector. The 57, is shallow front to back, so, to keep light from spilling over the front and back, it will need to be low. This will make the spread to the sides even less and the heat issues greater.

2 MH lamps would be good, but 2x250s would be overkill and produce a lot of heat. 2x175s would work. 2x 150s could work, although, I think the 57 is 20" which is getting to the limits of a 150 for penetrating power. So, it would sort of depend on what you wanted to keep and how tall your sandbed is. Also, starting at 175 you can get better reflectors. For 150s the only ones available are parabolic reflectors. With a good reflector, you can hang it higher which will help a lot with heat issue. T-5s are also very good for the dimensions of that tank.

Edit: Also, the phoenix is a great bulb. Lots of PAR for a relatively blue bulb.

 

[labnjab]

I use a 250 watt phoenix 14000K on our 20 long frag tank, and was using 2 of them on our 75 gallon until we made the switch to LED last night. Its a great bulb and we always got incredible growth out of it.

 

[wrassefan]

I run that on my 25gal...great color

 

[firstimer]

im using a lum large reflector. should i move it down more? its about like 9 inches off the water right now.

 

[inverted]

Moving it up higher will cover the sides better, but you'll loose light off the front and back. Lower will give more intensity but the sides may be a bit dimmer. You can certainly cover a 36" tank with one bulb, it just becomes a trade off between coverage and intensity. Ideally The best bet would be to get the clubs PAR meter and adjust the height to make sure the PAR is reasonable, for the corals you want to keep, where you want to keep them. Otherwise you can sort of eyeball it and Lower the lamp to the point where you can just see some shaded areas on the side, then raise it back up a bit. This can be deceiving though as you eye isn't that sensitive to light intensity, for the wavelengths of light we are interested it. Using the clubs PAR meter will tell you for sure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[firstimer]

where can i get this par meter?

 

[Jocko]

Here's the link to the thread where you can get on the list:
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?108570-Light-Meter

 

[firstimer]

from the way i look at the tank now - i have no shaded areas. the light pretty much covers the whole tank. just a little concerning that some are open and some arent. makes me wonder if some of them are burnt from the change over. i used to have a pc lights on them that was basically on the tank. everything opened up nicely.

 

[wrassefan]

hopefully you acclimated your tank (a couple/few hrs a day)from PC lights to MH over a couple of weeks. MH can "toast" all your corals if you subjected them to 8hrs right from the start. It's equivalent to a severe sunburn but can kill off your corals. I have "dimmer" light on the sides or rock ledges to block or make less intense for lps and zoas. The sps love the light and flow so I keep my light about 6-8" from the surface.

 

[firstimer]

sigh. i turned it off after 4 hrs but my gfs dad turned it back on when i left as he had guests coming over.. i hope this didnt do too much damage..

 

[Jocko]

If you can, keep things out of the center for now. The PAR drops off VERY quickly as you move away from center of the reflector. That can help with the acclimation process. Then you can start to move the high light SPS guys inward and upward over time.

 

[Bobbofin]

I have a 150 watt 14kk MH and two actinic T5 on my 24x24x24" cube The fixture is 10" off the water and I get full coverage. It only being a 150 watt I keep my SPS in the top half anf they are growing like weeds. I think in would be fine but if you raise it too much you'd get light spillage over the front and back of the tank. You could always keep acans, lps, zoas off the the left and the right. This fixture would fit the bill. I have the 24" 150 watt one. http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/H-A31H2502T5.html

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

yea u should be ok.................just keep track of the water temp........

btw bobbofin......love ur hat!......................you look real happy with it on.