# Metal halide on a 30cm Cube or similar tank?



## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

I am hoping to receive a 30cm ADA cube for Christmas this year. I won't have the money to finish setting it up the way I like any time soon, so I am really trying to do this right. I spent a lot of time planning my larger tank and still had a few problems. I really hope to make this as painless as possible.

I want this tank to have a hanging pendant. Or more likely a pendant attached to the stand and hung from some type of piping or wood.

Here in lies my problem. What point source pendant lighting can I use?

I have seen the mini Aqualight and such and don't like the appearance and it looks kind of cheap for such a nice looking tank.

The twist bulbs seemed like a good idea but I am not sure if I can hang it like a pendant and get enough light without making a really ugly pendant and it also doesn't have the same effect as point source lighting.

I was really thinking halogen could be the answer. A nice 50w spot light. The problem is I can't seem to find a nice bulb for growing plants and I am kind of worried how much heat they put off because I have never used one on a tank before.

Now back to the title of the thread. After seeing the 70w diy metal halide fixture here:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/do-it-yourself/34627-70-diy-70w-hqi-metal-halide.html

I started to think why can't I use that. It is a point source, It has options for different color temps, easily made into a pendant.

The drawbacks are plentiful though. I don't think I could use wood since metal halides tend to run pretty hot. 70w is a lot of light for such a small tank about 10wpg of very efficient light. The other is this will probably be more expensive than my other options.

I also just remembered Gomer's LED display. I wish the technology was here for one or a couple large LED's to do what I want...

What do you guys think? I have pretty much ruled out the compact fluorescents unless thats my only option. Are there halogen bulbs for what I am trying to do? I will have pressurized co2 but even with a crappy pendant reflector and a short light period I am worried I will just be growing algae.


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## darkfury18 (Apr 28, 2006)

With the halide you could hang it up a little higher if it's too much light for what you need.. and i'm pretty sure it doesn't produce any more heat than the halogen lamp.


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## Craig Tarvin (Jul 26, 2005)

slickwillislim said:


> I am hoping to receive a 30cm ADA cube for Christmas this year. I won't have the money to finish setting it up the way I like any time soon, so I am really trying to do this right. I spent a lot of time planning my larger tank and still had a few problems. I really hope to make this as painless as possible.
> 
> I want this tank to have a hanging pendant. Or more likely a pendant attached to the stand and hung from some type of piping or wood.
> 
> ...


NanoReef.com is full of people using 70W HQI MH's over small tanks, tons of 10 gallons and even smaller. They mount them in wood enclosures and even inside plastic 12 gallon Nanocubes, there are heat issues to deal with, but they don't melt.


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

Well I decided to go with the Mini M instead. After seeing both tanks in person I think the mini M will suit my needs perfectly. I don't think I will pursue this 70w metal halide due to the size of the tank but thanks for the advice. I think I will go with a screw in compact and see if its enough. It a shame we don't have a cheap low wattage metal halide. I guess the 70w is about as low wattage as they are going to go...


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

I believe the Mini M uses a 27watt CF fixture.


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

Yah I saw the fixture in the ADA catalogue. I Saw a 27w cf full spectrum desklamp at Lowes some time ago. I am considering this depending on the ugliness factor. If I use a screw in fixture I will try to find a higher wattage bulb. Or I could try two hanging pendants?


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Will I still use a 19watt screw in for my 1g so if my calculations are correct then, you'll have to find a near 200watt screw buld and fixture.


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

I thought people used two twist bulbs on 10g tanks all of the time. I was going to do two 19w or something to that effect.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

I was only able to grow taiwan moss with two 10 watt STRAIGHT cf. If I were you, I was just do AHsupply diy.


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

I don't really want to hang a box over the tank. I wanted to have metal pendants. I guess I should give up on this idea and go with a box of some sort. I had planned on building a metal L to hang the lights from. I guess a box could look fine. Are their quad 65/55w bulbs. I have an extra coralife ballast laying around that without a reflector would give plenty of light. Thanks for the tips. I still have plenty of planning before I set it all up.


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

If you do decide down the road to go MH, you can certainly do so in a wooden canopy. I have both the Oceanic cube and Stretch Hex version with MH in the hood. As long as you use some washers to keep the reflector 1/4" off the wood itself it's fine. If you like I can post some pictures of my hood build, I used 400W MH, 110W CF and a computer fan to keep it all cool... I used a cheap reflector from hellolights.com, they usually have them for sale in their "half price" page. Works well and for a planted tank with lower wattages you'd likely have no heat issues at all...

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

Thanks for the advice. I don't think I will be using MH on this tank but is good to know for future projects.


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