Pendant Light Options
 

I would like to put a pendant light over my corner tank. I don't want it to be any larger than is necessary to grow some soft corals, zoos, and basically bring the rock to life. I am concerned about the excess heat and energy of metal halides and have never used them. What are my options?

What size is your corner tank?

How tall is it?

I have my halides six to ten inches above the tank and have no heat problems, they are 175W. If you could have a small fan blowing across the top of the tank, the heat will be even less of a problem. :mrgreen:

92gal, 24" depth

Is there anything I can use in a pendant besides a halide which will give me sufficient light? What is the smallest halide available?

I have only used NO tubes before and wasn't completely dissatisfied, so I'm not looking for a sun hovering above the tank, nor the electric bill associated with one.

I've seen great things done with a single 175W bulb on a 24" tank for the type of livestock you want to keep.

Maybe do a comparison between a small 150w DE & 175w Mogul type pendants to see if the 150w is good for your situation. Usually, I think the recommendation is for 250w at 24" & deeper but if you're just keeping relatively low light corals, you can go with the smaller wattages.

Personally, I prefer the 150w.

JMO,

Anthony

I don't know how long the tank is across the front, but if it is no longer than 36" it should be fine with a 175W halide. I have done 30" rectangular tanks with a single 175W halide, so if it is a corner even 36" across the front would be fine. There are 70W halides, but with the tank being 24" deep you would pobably be pushing it. :mrgreen:

K, thanks. Now I'm looking for a bell pendant. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I would stay away from the Bell pendants, as the light output is poor. That is because the bulb is mounted vertically, and the reflection is poor. The light is also directed downward in a very tight pattern, which is not good for your purpose. You might check some other posts for MH lights for sale. :mrgreen:

ROIII Pendant isn't too large, and give great output.

The Aqua-Medic ocean light looks great and is pretty slim.

Is the ROIII pendent pretty much equivalent to a PFO mini pendent? I've never seen a side-by-side comparison but the photos of each make them look pretty similar to each other.

I don't like the looks of a horizontal pendant, and as any MH will be a vast improvement I'm sticking with the bell style. Now to find one...

Are you trying to keep the hood open? Can't you hide the pendent behind a hood or psuedo-hood (i.e., an open top box that sits on top of the aquarium that you can use to hide the less esthetic elements of a tank behind..)?

I'm not trying to nag, but I think you're selling yourself short by going to a vertical mount. It's a bit of a spotlight effect, and bulbs (we tend to use in this hobby) tend to have a better colouration in the horizontal position. And horizontal tends to have a lower profile.

Just my $0.02 ..... :biggrin:

They're pretty similar. The ROIII is a little larger and spreads the light out more evenly whereas the PFO mini is smaller and doesn't spread light that well, it is more focussed.

Where could I find some info and pictures of these? I'm not having any luck.

^ http://www.oceanencounter.com/

reply
 

I used to have a 54 corner tank which I lit with a 250watt 14K MH. I found that because my rockwork was mostly in the back of the tank 1 bulb worked quite well at covering the corals. Before I had the MH I had a 2x 65 watt PC with supplimentary NO actinics; basically as much as I could fit over the oddly shaped tank. It worked well with softies but nothing compared to the MH on that tank.