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Unread 03/14/2018, 10:25 AM   #1
RXCoral
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Metal Halides For 29 Gallon

Looking to upgrade my lighting on my tank (30x12x18) to MH, but I have no way of hanging a fixture from the ceiling or mounting s bracket to the wall. Any suggestions on what fixture? I was thinking 250w.

Thanks,

Brett


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Unread 03/14/2018, 11:56 AM   #2
bdsage
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150w de phoenix is what i would use on a 29. Get a length of conduit/pipe from homey depot bent to 90 degrees and mount on back of stand...


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Unread 03/14/2018, 01:02 PM   #3
RXCoral
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bdsage View Post
150w de phoenix is what i would use on a 29. Get a length of conduit/pipe from homey depot bent to 90 degrees and mount on back of stand...


Thanks for the reply.

That could work. I’ll look into a 150w fixture. Have you used conduit before to mount lights? What did you use to attach to the tank itself?


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Unread 03/14/2018, 03:00 PM   #4
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I have a 30” Current USA 150 watt HQI Sunpod fixture if you’re interested... It has mounting legs that attach to the rim of your tank. Shoot me a PM if you’re interested.


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Last edited by LQT; 03/14/2018 at 04:55 PM. Reason: *Sunpod, not Sunpower
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Unread 03/14/2018, 04:33 PM   #5
RXCoral
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LQT View Post
I have a 30” Current USA 150 watt HQI Sunpower fixture if you’re interested... It has mounting legs that attach to the rim of your tank. Shoot me a PM if you’re interested.


I appreciate the offer, but I’m just looking into what people suggest or what they’re using. I’ll keep it in mind though.

Thanks!


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Unread 03/14/2018, 06:50 PM   #6
whiteshark
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I've used conduit before. Attaching it to the stand turned out to be trickier than I anticipated, but it came out quite nice. I painted it with one of those hammered metal looking spray paints, put in some screw hooks and used chain to hang the fixture. The nice part is you can make the conduit sit high above the tank, then just raise or lower the chain on the hooks to raise and lower the light. That is something you want to consider. Make sure you have the hanging mechanism high enough that you can raise and lower the fixture, which you will have to do.


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Unread 03/14/2018, 07:25 PM   #7
RXCoral
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Quote:
Originally Posted by whiteshark View Post
I've used conduit before. Attaching it to the stand turned out to be trickier than I anticipated, but it came out quite nice. I painted it with one of those hammered metal looking spray paints, put in some screw hooks and used chain to hang the fixture. The nice part is you can make the conduit sit high above the tank, then just raise or lower the chain on the hooks to raise and lower the light. That is something you want to consider. Make sure you have the hanging mechanism high enough that you can raise and lower the fixture, which you will have to do.


Thanks for the reply.

Definitely keep the height requirement in mind for raising/lowering the reflector. How did you end up attaching it? Did you attach it to the stand? Or the tank itself?


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Unread 03/14/2018, 07:29 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pHARMLIFE View Post
Thanks for the reply.

Definitely keep the height requirement in mind for raising/lowering the reflector. How did you end up attaching it? Did you attach it to the stand? Or the tank itself?


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Let me dig up the build thread quick and see if I explained it.


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Unread 03/14/2018, 08:27 PM   #9
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Well, photobucket sucks and I'm not paying 100$ to get 3rd party hosting back.



This was about all I could find digging through 86548695698 ads on photobucket. I hadn't cleaned it up at this point, but you get the idea. I used two pieces of conduit attached directly to the stand because the fixture was large. If I wanted to raise it or lower it I just changed which chain loop was hung on the hook. I had 4 chains and 4 hooks (2 per conduit piece), one for each corner.


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Unread 03/14/2018, 09:05 PM   #10
DesertReefT4r
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I used a Coralife 150w HQI clamp on fixture on my old 29g. Ran Phoenix buld in it and had good results. 250w is too much for a 29g tank. Find a 150w MH fixture that fits your needs.


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Unread 03/15/2018, 05:18 AM   #11
RXCoral
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Quote:
Originally Posted by whiteshark View Post
Well, photobucket sucks and I'm not paying 100$ to get 3rd party hosting back.







This was about all I could find digging through 86548695698 ads on photobucket. I hadn't cleaned it up at this point, but you get the idea. I used two pieces of conduit attached directly to the stand because the fixture was large. If I wanted to raise it or lower it I just changed which chain loop was hung on the hook. I had 4 chains and 4 hooks (2 per conduit piece), one for each corner.

Looks great! Thanks for looking for the picture of it. It looks like it helped that your stand was bigger than the tank as far as attachment of the conduit.


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Unread 03/15/2018, 05:32 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DesertReefT4r View Post
I used a Coralife 150w HQI clamp on fixture on my old 29g. Ran Phoenix buld in it and had good results. 250w is too much for a 29g tank. Find a 150w MH fixture that fits your needs.


Thanks for the reply. 150w will definitely do, I don’t know why I was thinking 250w. Did you have adequate coverage in the tank with the clamp on fixture? Some of them look like they’re built for nanos, like the Bimini sun DE (HQI) by Hamilton. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bimin...-hamilton.html



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Unread 03/15/2018, 08:20 AM   #13
DesertReefT4r
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pHARMLIFE View Post
Thanks for the reply. 150w will definitely do, I don’t know why I was thinking 250w. Did you have adequate coverage in the tank with the clamp on fixture? Some of them look like they’re built for nanos, like the Bimini sun DE (HQI) by Hamilton. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bimin...-hamilton.html



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Coverage was great. I had no shadowing and grew coral in every place possible in that tank


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Tank history 29g tropical ,55g cichlid tank, 20H softy reef, 29g mixed reef, 20H brackish goby & puffer tank, 55g mixed reef, 6g Nanocube softy lps reef, 40B sps reef, 75g sps reef, 75g sps reef in bu

Current Tank Info: 75g sps reef build in the works.
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Unread 03/15/2018, 08:52 AM   #14
RXCoral
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DesertReefT4r View Post
Coverage was great. I had no shadowing and grew coral in every place possible in that tank


Good to hear! I’ve heard good reviews about Phoenix bulbs.

Right now I’m trying to figure out how to get the Bimini closer to the center of my tank with some sort of conduit style clamp with the hanging kit they have for it.


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Unread 03/15/2018, 09:06 PM   #15
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Does anyone have any opinions or experience on either of these fixtures? Or any other 150w currently in production.

Bimini Sun Reflector 150w DE

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bimin...-hamilton.html

Reefbrite 150 Watt Double Ended pendant

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/15-de...eef-brite.html




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Unread 03/16/2018, 03:41 PM   #16
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Wish they were 48"


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Unread 03/17/2018, 12:30 PM   #17
E.intheC
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If I were you, I'd look at a 4 bulb, 24inch T5 fixture. Your tank is kind of long and unless you plan on having lower light corals on the left and right side, you'll have a tough time finding something that will work.

Plus, T5's will be 96 watts and will blanket the tank in enough light.


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Unread 03/17/2018, 12:51 PM   #18
RXCoral
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Originally Posted by E.intheC View Post
If I were you, I'd look at a 4 bulb, 24inch T5 fixture. Your tank is kind of long and unless you plan on having lower light corals on the left and right side, you'll have a tough time finding something that will work.

Plus, T5's will be 96 watts and will blanket the tank in enough light.


That’s a good point. I Currently I have an Orbit Marine 24-36 inch fixture and a Corallife 30inch fixture with 2x31w t5 (not very HO) bulbs.

LPS and softies are doing fine, I just want to move towards an SPS tank (starting with some of the easier ones first) and thought I would need a little more light par wise.


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Unread 03/17/2018, 05:28 PM   #19
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If you bump up to an ATI Fixture you'll be set. Plenty of PAR for the entire tank, all SPS as well. I have a 4 bulb, 24 inch ATI fixture on my 90 that was initially going to be FOWLR, but I ended up adding some GSP and other softies and they're doing well so far, even on the bottom of my tank.

If you had a 29 cube tank a MH setup would be better, but with your dimensions, T5 is the way to go.


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Unread 03/17/2018, 05:33 PM   #20
RXCoral
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E.intheC View Post
If you bump up to an ATI Fixture you'll be set. Plenty of PAR for the entire tank, all SPS as well. I have a 4 bulb, 24 inch ATI fixture on my 90 that was initially going to be FOWLR, but I ended up adding some GSP and other softies and they're doing well so far, even on the bottom of my tank.

If you had a 29 cube tank a MH setup would be better, but with your dimensions, T5 is the way to go.


I was actually just looking at the ATI 24 inch 4x24w Sunpower as you posted this The par ratings look great on the fixture! Now the biggest challenge, is to figure out how to convince my fiancé that it’s worth it haha


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Unread 03/24/2018, 05:53 AM   #21
RXCoral
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E.intheC View Post
If you bump up to an ATI Fixture you'll be set. Plenty of PAR for the entire tank, all SPS as well. I have a 4 bulb, 24 inch ATI fixture on my 90 that was initially going to be FOWLR, but I ended up adding some GSP and other softies and they're doing well so far, even on the bottom of my tank.

If you had a 29 cube tank a MH setup would be better, but with your dimensions, T5 is the way to go.




Finished product! Thanks for the suggestion. Had trouble centering the fixture since I can’t make up for length added by a bend in conduit, but overall I’m happy with my first DIY conduit hanger for $7.



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Unread 03/24/2018, 07:29 PM   #22
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Great choice and nice job on the conduit. I’m sure you’ll really like the light


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Unread 03/24/2018, 08:58 PM   #23
RXCoral
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Great choice and nice job on the conduit. I’m sure you’ll really like the light


Thanks! I already love that I can swivel it out of the way to work in the tank, rather then having to lug light fixtures off.


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