24G shallow glass box

[Brent F]

I have a Aqua Medic 250 watt over my 20 X 20 X 9 clam tank and am very happy with the choice. I have a fan on the same timer as the light to keep the temperature down. The thing I notice most is my evaporation is very high (10+ gallons per week).

I added these pictures showing the light & fan and the aquascaping to my tank thread showing what a 9 inch deep tank looks like:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...4&postcount=97

[LeeR]

Man your tanks sweet! I still drool over it everytime i see it.
thanks for the updated pics. i still do have lots of zoas and chalice coral i would like to keep so i think a 250 would be a bit much.

[LeeR]

oh and im probably going to save my pennys and get a Tunze Osmolator.

[Brent F]

Thanks,

Yea, the 250 is way too much for zoas. I needed to remove everything except the clams and SPS when I upgrade the light. There are no "near the bottom low light" places to put lower light livestock in a tank just 9 inches deep. Everywhere is very high light (even with a 150 watt fixture).

An ATO is a necessity for an open top tank with MH lighting.

[LeeR]

this is true... to bad spot lights are hard to come by it would be cool to do 2 or 3 70W MH spot lights.

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...%3Den%26sa%3DN

[Sebae again]

A lot of Japanese tanks use spot mh lights with both softies and sps to focus on the corals with higher light requirements. Cuts down on power and heat while creating a cool effect.

[Brent F]

I had a 70 W Viper inches over a maxima clam and it was browning out. I switched to the 250 and the colour came right back. I was really surprized a 70 W MH about 6inches over a clam wouldn't provide adequate light.

[Delphinus]

Maybe the spectral output just isn't there in the lower wattages? Interesting, I agree, you'd think it would be OK given how local the light is. I'm betting it's a quality of light issue and not a quantity of light issue.