Lighting question for smaller tank

[urbanhellfire]

I have a 31"L x 12"W x 16"H tank that for the past two months had only had LR and a cuc in it. It has the standard 20 watt t-8 tube in it, and that has worked just fine for the LR but Iam wanting to start adding some corals no hard just soft, mushrooms,polyps.

Iam looking to grow easy to medium care corals. My biggest question right now is what type of lighting to upgrade to? PC,HO,VHO?

PC"s look like I could easily mod my current hood to fit them in, but are they any good?

I have seen that you can get a ballast " ice cap " that
will run HO or VHO lights and that could be good choice for moving up to a VHO tube in the future?

Iam just not sure which way to go with the lighting.

Anyone help a brother out?

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I would say it depends on what you want to keep AND your price range! You might go to jlaquatics.com and check out their retrofit HO T5 kits. Those may be the best bang for your buck (considering what you want to keep as well). They're cheaper than PC in the long run, as the bulbs are at least half the price (in my experience).

[Pier Pressure]

I had thought that power compact was low end, T5's were medium, and MH was top of the line (notwithstanding the new LED's). Is this incorrect? Do power compacts or T5's give better light?

Definitely tagging along for this one!

[urbanhellfire]

Originally Posted by Pier Pressure

I had thought that power compact was low end, T5's were medium, and MH was top of the line (notwithstanding the new LED's). Is this incorrect? Do power compacts or T5's give better light?

Definitely tagging along for this one!

I Have thought the same thing about PC's but as long as they throw the same wattage and lum's does it really matter?

Iam not sure if it does matter thats why iam here.

Alright everyone let there be light....

[Whatigot]

oh boy, not this can of worms again...

It's personal preference.
you will find compelling arguments for pc's, mh and t5's.
Myself, I have 300 watts of DE Halides and 260 watts of PC lighting over my 24' deep 72 bowfront and couldn't be happier.

I had a single 65w 50/50 pc over my old 36 gallon bow (18' deep) and grew just softies, mushrooms and kept the odd LPS with no problem.

Trial and error my friend, but in my opinion you'd be just fine on that tank with either pc or t5, plus you can always upgrade later if you need or want to.

[urbanhellfire]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

oh boy, not this can of worms again...

It's personal preference.
you will find compelling arguments for pc's, mh and t5's.
Myself, I have 300 watts of DE Halides and 260 watts of PC lighting over my 24' deep 72 bowfront and couldn't be happier.

I had a single 65w 50/50 pc over my old 36 gallon bow (18' deep) and grew just softies, mushrooms and kept the odd LPS with no problem.

Trial and error my friend, but in my opinion you'd be just fine on that tank with either pc or t5, plus you can always upgrade later if you need or want to.

Trial and error are the two things I have lots of experience with!

I just didn't want to under light the tank and kill off any animals . and it seems that any LFS I talk to all seem to have diffrent values when it comes to lighting and what is needed.

I don't think my tank needs to be seen from space but I also want to see what going on in there

Thanks

[Pier Pressure]

My electrical knowledge is not very good that is for sure. I am still confused. Can somebody list the three different forms of lighting with advantages/disadvantages of each? Not trying to start a war here - just want to gain more knowledge. I agree that each LFS tells you a different story.

And I, too, do not think my tank needs to be seen from space! LOL.

[urbanhellfire]

Money is ALWAYS a factor.

This
is the PC setup I was looking at.

I just want to make sure iam putting enough wattage into the tank.

I don't think I would go with MH on a tank this small, (price and heat)

Thanks everyone