Want to upgrade, is this enough?

[Iceburg98]

Well, i've finally decided that my pathetic little 13W 50/50 isn't cutting it on my 6 gal tank. I want to upgrade my lighting and found a nice 2x18w 50/50 hood online that would fit my tank perfectly. Do you think that would be adequate lighting? I just want to open up my options on the types of corals i can keep, and to help keep them healthier.

The only other hood i've found small enough to fit on my tank was 96w, and it would extend over the sides of the tank by a few inches - and i thought that would just be over-kill on that size tank.

8)

 

[Vafik]

Well if you think about it theres proabally only 5 gallons of water or less in your 6 gallon tank. 36 watts would give you around 7 wpg and when it comes to PC lighting you actually would get alittle more since they put out more light then the NO bulbs. That would be a very decent lighting setup for your 6 gallon tank. You could probally house just about anything you wanted or anything that you could fit in a 6 gallon that would get along with other corals. Hope it doesnt heat your tank to much

 

[djconn]

The way I would look at it is its almost 3 times what you used to have which is a huge improvement. I have 64 PC watts over my 5.5 but that isn't the norm.

In case you were wondering, I still haven't had any heat issues with the tank and I live in Texas. Matter of fact, I just bought a 25watt heater.

 

[incysor]

I'm running a 32w 50/50 pc lamp over my 6g. 2 18w ones should do you fine. It'll be a big improvement over what you've got now.

B

 

[Vafik]

He had said something about putting a 96 over his 5 gallon do you think you could keep a clam in that?

 

[Iceburg98]

Well, i don't know if i'd risk a clam (although i'd love to have one if that's enough light), but i was really wondering if that would be enough light to keep SPS, or if i should just still stick with softs...

 

[djconn]

Well, i don't know if i'd risk a clam (although i'd love to have one if that's enough light), but i was really wondering if that would be enough light to keep SPS, or if i should just still stick with softs...

36 watts over your 6 gal=no
96 watts over your 6 gal=yes

Not sure which setup we were talking about there.

 

[Iceburg98]

i was talking about the 36 watter - i figured no on the sps, but just wanted to ask in case there was a chance :smile:

i'll just stick to the softs and LPS for now