advice needed on lightings and chiller

[lightningstrike]

hi all,

I would like to seek ur humble opinion on the above mentioned. i m currently and intending to keep some softies, lots of lps, some sps and lots of clams.

currently, i m hving a 101cm long x 50cm wide x 41cm deep juwel rio 180 tank, volume is about 200L wif refugium. am thinking of upgrading my lights to MH. m oredi thinking of getting a 3ft Atman MH light set which sits on the tank. the light set comes with 2 x 150W MH and 4 x 27W Actinic blue PL. cost about $650 from what i hv sourced so far. may get a weipro MH with 1x 150W MH wif 2x 27W actinic blue PL instead.

what i wanna ask is that r the lights sufficient or too strong?

what kind of MH bulbs should i get? 1x 10000k wif 1x 20000k issit a good combination?

as for chiller, due to budget constraint am thinking of getting one of the following:

resun cl 280 (1/10hp) $350

resun cl 300 (1/10hp) $380

resun cl 450 (1/4hp??) $499

atman 160 $350

atman 400 $650

which is a better choice judging by the lights and the vol of water i m going to hv? ard what temp should i keep my tank?

thks kind reefers for ur help. hope i hv given enuf info for u to help me.

[lightningstrike]

or alternatively shall i go for ATI T5s instead.

[alanseah]

if u r keeping sps.. best go for 250w instead..

as for chiller dont use resun unless u dont mind the noise..

atman chiller is much better.. go search around there is a review on this atman chiller..

[Achilles Tang]

Usine one 10k and 20k bulb in a pendant will give you banding problems. You will see one side of the tank in white colour and one in blue!

Best to go for 2 x 10k or 2 x 20k. I suggest 2 x 10k with blue PL/T5s for supplementing the 10k to get a pleasing whiter colour as 10k alone can still be quite yellow.

I will suggest you invest in a better chiller. Try the smallest model of the Reef Relief (1hp I believe). I believe you will be very happy with it in the long term. You get what you pay for. And save electricity in the long run if you get a too small/inefficient chiller that runs the whole day instead.

You can't place your clams on the sandbed or they may not get enough light. You have to place them higher on the rocks even to get them to retain colour. 250w minimum for sandplaced clams.

[andysho]

dun seems to able to get to Dr Chill

msg him never reply one

is he out of town or too busy

[lightningstrike]

thks AT and fellow reefers, but what kind of hp is sufficient for my tank, 1/10, 1/4, 1/2???

and wif 2x 150W MH wif 4 27W PL, wont some of my corals get "sunburnt". pls advise.