Miss Mouse

Morning All! I have finally got myself a proper light I found 150 watt halogen on ebay for £50 - normally they go for around £200 so I'm a very happy little lady! I cannot believe how much difference it makes. I still have to find a way of mounting it above the tank because it did not come with brackets but my brother works for a metal fabricators so hes going to sort something out when he comes back from holiday (he's in South Africa - lucky boy grrr). So for the moment I am going to start looking at corals that are compatible with my valentini and I'm going to treat nemo and buy him an anemome!

Any recommendations for easy corals that are safe with Valentini puffer and hermit crabs?

Much thanks,
ursula

agsansoo

I'm confused (which happens alot .. LOL)
Did you mean Halogen or Halide ?

If it's Halogen ... There are some problems.

1. You need to know how much output it is giving, whether it is enough of the right kind of light (PAR) for your tank. This will be very difficult to determine unless you have light measuring equipment (or you could just wait and see how it affects your corals).
2. Halogens are terribly inefficient when compared to any other light used for aquariums (like 1/8th the efficiency of MH or fluorescents). That means you would need to run some really high wattage halogens to make up the difference.

Which brings us to the next two problems:

1. Assuming you have a unit that is high enough in light output, you are talking about some serious heat issues.
2. In the end you would probably not be saving money due to energy costs and buying enough of them to provide adequate light.

Miss Mouse

HAHAHA I'm such a dumb blonde!Thank you for pointing that out - I was just so excited I didn't even read it properly lol
It's a system 2000 150 Watt Metal Halide light. It does kick out quite a lot of warmth but doesn't seem to have affected the temperature of the tank and the light intensity is amazing!

agsansoo

That's Great to hear ... I was so worried !!!
I had the same problem with mounting my on my tank too. I have to make a DIY frame so the fixture can mount to. I made my out of wood.
Ask your brother if he can make the mounting brackets out of aluminum. Then paint it real good, so there's no corrosion.
One more thing ,,, Is the light bulb SE (single ended) or DE (double ended) ?

150 watts is going to great for you tank ... If it gets too hot, buy one of those clip-on desk fans. Place it so the air flows across the water of the tank. Not pointed down at the water. ( It's hot here in SoCal today ... AC is on 8) )

Miss Mouse

Hehe thanks for the concern

The bulb is double ended - (just hurt my eyes looking at it - DOH!)
Is it normal for it to create little bubbles in the tank? Since I've had it on there is a definite increase in tiny bubbles on the rock and glass.

Today I'm going to look for an anenome for clonwfish and some soft corals - I'm rather ecited! I woke up at 7, much to boyfriends disgust hahaha.

agsansoo

Yes ... The bubbles are from the increase light causing life to bloom ! Be careful not to run the light too long in the beginning. The the tank needs to adjust slowly to the new light. Too much new light will cause algae blooms. I ran my new MH light for only 3-5 hour at first, then slowly increased it to 6-8 hours a day. If you start to see more algae in your tank, increase your flow. As for the bubble on the top of the water, point your power heads upward to stir the top of the water more. Later we can talk about the K rating of your bulb.

Miss Mouse

Yeah I have been limiting the light for the first few days just to ease it in ith the fish. They dont mind it at all and today I bought a purple tip malu anemone for the clownfish. It's really beautiful and so far seems to be happy in the tank. It moved across the tank out of direct light so i presume he's happier there. Very excited!

agsansoo

Not too familiar with the malu anemone. Is this a Ritteri ? ... Post some pictures when you get a chance !

Hey I guess like minds think alike ... I bought a rose bubble tip this weekend ! It's has bleaching (not getting enough light).
The LFS had him in a dirty, dark, small tank. Poor little guy ... LOL He's doing OK for now, he ate his first silverside yesterday. My maroon
clown starting hosting him on day 2. Though I wish the clown would have waited.

Miss Mouse

Ah thats ace that the clown is hosting! My clown has completely ignored the malu whcih is a real shame but the clown is tank bred and he seems to be happy hosting the green cualpera anyway Tempted now to get some tomato clowns and see how they get on ...
any ideas of common clown and tomato clowns will get on ok?

agsansoo

Your clown might host, it takes a few months sometimes. Perc's naturally want a carpet anemone first. Mixing clowns is not a good idea. They will kill each other unless the tank is really big. Their second choice would be the malu you already have. Tank breed or wild, makes no difference. Millions of years of instinct behind you ...

Miss Mouse

Ah I thought so - ah well, no more clowns for me! I'll just get another baby common clown then and have a pair and hope that the new one will follow his instinct a little more directly

bhcaaron

Miss Mouse, could you repost pics of the Malu?