Nano Lighting

[rgillard]

Question for the lighting experts out there.....
I have a healthy 7.5 gallon bowfront nano reef. Currently 32w 50/50 PC light.
keep some xoanthids, pulsing xenia, 1 fish and some hermit crabs and live rock. Lots of corraline and macro algea in tank.

I was contemplating switching to MH lighting and was looking at the Aqualight Advanced Hang-On Tank Mount HQI 150W 14,000K. Is this too much light for my little nano. I dont want to harm, cook or otherwise upset my 4 year old nano.


Thanks in advance for thougthful answers.

rgillard
Milwaukee

[Reefbaby]

I'm sure Gwen will chip in here soon....she's our local nano expert! :-)
I believe that she keeps MHs as well with her nano.

I think since you are thinking about 150W, it should be okay for the nano system. I wouldn't go higher though...

[Reefbaby]

Oh...one thing...if you do decide to switch over, you should use the eggcrate technique of shading the tank and gradually exposing it to more light so that it's not a complete shock to the corals.

[rgillard]

Reefbaby

thanks for the advice, I will wait for Gwendolyn to post in.

[V]

does anyone use lamp post acclimation?
a steel pipe within a pipe,counter weighted vertical poll with holes drill from top to bottom. u move the inside pipe and place a metal pin in the holes so u can adjust the overall height of ur lights. abit of a mouthful:?

[Reefbaby]

Hmmm....the eggcrate sounds a little cheaper and less "techy" to me....but that's just because I'm kind of a DIY idiot! :-)

[gwen_o_lyn]

Sorry rgillard! I am way behind on reading TR, but I'm glad you PMed me.

Here is a recap for this thread: I think heat will be a major issue and I recommend the 70w bulb for that amount of water. On my tank, the top is exposed to air and only covered by eggcrate, and I added a fan that blows across the water while the MH's are on. With the fan and the heater, the water is about as consistent as I can get and stays between 78-80*.

[Rob]

as far as light acclimation, using a timer is the easiest and cheapest way i have found.. :)

[pham411]

as far as light acclimation, using a timer is the easiest and cheapest way i have found.. :)

so you dont raise your lights and just adjust your lighting period shorter? i will keep this in mind.. mahaloz rob.

[pham411]

rg,
you could always add one of these chillers (http://www.saltycritter.com/chillers/iceprobe-chiller.htm) after your light acclimation or maybe before the lights to keep things cool. im sure there are cheaper 1z out there.

latez

[Rob]

exactly..
i described the process in detail in a podcast Ep 33 in the Tip of the week section

[V]

im still undecieded about that one rob, because if a coral has been used to less intense light say from a deminishing bulb, even with a timer, i would have thought that an intense wave lenght bursts would still cause a shock! its obvious it works for you which is a very good thing. i dont think it matters whether its diffuser panels, the light height itself, or incrimental jumps in lighting time, its going to vary from species to species, and if acclimation needs modifing to suit the subject, go for it!

theirs just one problem with adjusting the height of the lights, if its the only one u have for the tank, the others are going to get the same treatment as the one your trying introduce

[Rob]

yes, it did work for me, i had a Rose BTA, and various soft corals, some leathers, zoathids, etc, and i had a hammer coral, and my Fungia.

of course, go with the method that you think is best, but this is my experience, and i have heard from others with similar corals, that this methods worked well for them

[rgillard]

Sorry rgillard! I am way behind on reading TR, but I'm glad you PMed me.

Here is a recap for this thread: I think heat will be a major issue and I recommend the 70w bulb for that amount of water. On my tank, the top is exposed to air and only covered by eggcrate, and I added a fan that blows across the water while the MH's are on. With the fan and the heater, the water is about as consistent as I can get and stays between 78-80*.


What brand of 70w Halogen fixture do you have on your tank?

Thanks

[V]

as always rob, experience counts, and u have more of it than i, so i will definately take up the wisdom like a sponge, and squeeze out what i notice is not working!

[Rob]

as always rob, experience counts, and u have more of it than i, so i will definately take up the wisdom like a sponge, and squeeze out what i notice is not working!
and thats the best thing anyone can do...
im not saying my way is best.. just that it worked for me, and was pretty easy

[Jimm]

I have the 70 W HQI Current USA fixture above my 10 gallon with a 14 K bulb, and I have temperature problems. With no fan on it will climb to the mid 80's, maybe higher if I let it. I have a fan that I keep blowing over the surface to keep it cool. That and my heater keep it right at 76 degrees F. If I don't have the heater on it will dip to 72. I have the fan hooked to the same timer as my lights.

[V]

thats a good idea, seeing its the lights that are causing the bulk of the heat!
ive have seen here that alot of u guys blow the fan over the water, instead of extracting it! i would have thought this would cause more water evaperation.
is there a reason why u guys prefer to blow it, instead of suck it!
lol
that sounded really bad, but no pun intented

[Jimm]

Well since evaporation is how the water is cooled, that's what we're trying to create. So it follows that the greater the heating problem the more evaporation that you want. The reason that I blow across the surface has to do with the way my tank is set up more than anything else. I have a 10 gallon tank, with a Current USA fixture over it. The fan sits off to the side on a different table blowing over the water's surface. If it was built into a hood I might do it a different way. But this works for me. I do have to top off a lot more frequently with this set up.

[Rob]

the other part is efficiency.
if you have an enclosed hood, then sucking air out would be efficient at controlling temp, but with an open area its not that effective, so blowing air is more effective with an open top

[gwen_o_lyn]

What brand of 70w Halogen fixture do you have on your tank?

Thanks

Here is a link to my light- its 150w.
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=CU01060

I have a very similar setup as Jimm. The fan blows across the surface and the heater kicks in when needed. The first fan I used was too powerful and it was hard to set it on a timer just right- tank would get too cold, and the heater couldn't keep up. So I bought a smaller fan and it works perfectly- it comes on about an hour into the light cycle until the end. I stay around 78 for the most part, and sometimes reach 80. I top off twice a day- morning and night to maintain water stability.

[V]

that makes sence, i think i make the assumption that people go for an enclosed hood to block the light!

[Rob]

that makes sence, i think i make the assumption that people go for an enclosed hood to block the light!
that is another great reason to have enclosed hood.
it was my mistake when i did my DIY hood.
i make it to be suspended from the ceiling and there was a 4-5 inch gap between it and the tank.

well i know have a towel covering the front because it will give anyone sitting in front of it a headache in 60 seconds flat...

[V]

rob, im sure this is a silly question, but if its on a chain from the ceiling, is it the way it designed internally that prevent u from dropping it down a few links to cover the gap. if it is the internals with the light housing, is it possable to re-set them higher

[Rob]

i "could" drop it down more but then i have to problems.

bulbs too close to the water for my liking, and then i have no way to get into the tank without raising it back up.. and that is not as easy as it sounds...lol a pulley system would be much better than the chains i use

[CarmieJo]

Towels must be a guy thing. :) My son's bedroom has cafe curtains and he put a towel up to cover the gap between the top and bottom because the sun woke him up in the morning.

[thrlride]

I asked this of Eric Bourneman and he suggested running the lights for 2 hours then turn them off for an hour, then running them 2 hours again throughout the entire photoperiod. As the weeks go on simply cut the off time down.

His reasoning is that photosysnthesis doesn't ramp up until 2 hours so cutting it off after that amount of time stops that process.


im still undecieded about that one rob, because if a coral has been used to less intense light say from a deminishing bulb, even with a timer, i would have thought that an intense wave lenght bursts would still cause a shock! its obvious it works for you which is a very good thing. i dont think it matters whether its diffuser panels, the light height itself, or incrimental jumps in lighting time, its going to vary from species to species, and if acclimation needs modifing to suit the subject, go for it!

theirs just one problem with adjusting the height of the lights, if its the only one u have for the tank, the others are going to get the same treatment as the one your trying introduce