# Options for lighting 50gal Oceanic



## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

I'm going to be buying a 50gal Oceanic (30x18x21) for my master bedroom in the next week or two. I'm sure my girlfriend is thrilled (not.) It will be open-top, pressurized co2 (probably with a controller) and high lighting, though I'd like to be able to have medium-low lighting for 12 hours with about 4 hours of intense lighting. My first aquascape is going to be a HC-based Iwagumi. I have grown HC very well in the past without super high lighting (10gal, 36W) but I'm thinking down the road, it would be best to have the option for very high lighting. This is especially true if at some point I get the urge to switch over to saltwater and coral.

So here's what I've thought about so far....

My original idea was to use a single Coralife Aqualight Power Compact 2x65 but I think the wattage might be too low and since the fixture is only 7" wide, coverage over an 18" wide tank might cause dark spots in front and back. So then I considered two of the 2x65 fixtures which would give me 2.6wpg for most of they day and 5.2wpg for the intense period. I'm also considering the Coralife Aqualight Pro 24" HQI. 2x65W + 150W 10000K metal halide. That would put me at 2.6wpg for most of the day and a whopping 5.6wpg during the really intense period. It might even be possible to put the PCs on different timers like the 2x65 Aqualight strip but I haven't seen any documentation to verify that. I figure the 24" HQI would be a really cool option and the Coralife is probably a fraction of the cost of a similar ADA light. The other cool thing about the HQI is that it has the lunar lights already built in so additional work on my behalf is not required for night viewing. I know it comes with mounting legs but they probably won't work on a 30" tank, so about the only extra work I would have to do is make a metal bar to hang the light from (I'm not putting holes in my ceiling!) I'm also very interested in T5 high output fixtures but don't know much about them. I haven't looked into these much but what I have found is either too low in wattage or won't fit a 30" tank.

Right now I'm leaning towards the HQI. Having it suspended about a foot over the tank for nice shimmer, flexibility in wattage, the lunar lights - it's almost exactly what I'm looking for. In about six months or so I would replace the 10000K bulb with an ADA "green." The cons are that it's very expensive and I'm wondering if it's overkill (I'm sure things would grow just fine with the one 2x65 fixture.)

Any comments to help me sort this out would be appreciated! TIA


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## pitabread (Jul 14, 2006)

I have the 24" Aqualight Pro above my 56 gallon reef tank (30x18x24). It's not a bad fixture and the 150 watt MH puts out a LOT of light. It makes for a very bright tank with a cool shimmer effect from the water movement. I use it with the Coralife timer power bar, so all three sets of lights (MH, PC and blue LEDs) come on at different times. 

However, there are a few caveats with using it over such a tank.

First of all, even with the legs, it can't fit properly on a 30" aquarium. The legs only work on a tank up to 27" wide at most. So what I ended up doing was fashioning a couple metal brackets with the legs attached which could then sit on the tank. It does render using a standard glass top impossible, but if you are going open top, then that's a moot point. Another option is to suspend the fixture from above (Coralife makes hangers for that).

Second, the 2 PC bulbs are on one circuit. So you can't operate them independently. The included bulbs are blue actinic bulbs, so you'd probably want to replace them.

Third, I find the fan for the MH bulb pretty noisy. If it's in your bedroom and only running during a few hours of the day, then it might not be an issue for you. However, I am planning to mod the hood and put in a couple replacement fans to cut down on the noise.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I have an ahs 96W kit and a 30W strip sitting atop my Oceanic 50. Since you'll be hanging them, perhaps a couple of the ahs 96W? If you're decent at making things, I believe one could make a nice enclosure for a 2 x 96W. Believe me, those ahs 96W/reflector combos put out some serious light.


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