Coralife aqualight 150 watt 20,000k clipon

[shanet1975]

I just purchased a used Coralife aqualight 150 watt 20,000k clipon for my 10 gallon tank. I'm hoping this isn't overkill but I will put it as high above the tank as I can. I plan to upgarde to a larger tank at some point and that is why I went with the 150 watt. I've been doing some reading and it seems that the uv lens isn't adequite and people are complaining about there coral being burnt. This still has the stock coralife bulb which I believe has a uv protectant glass casing. Should this be ok, or is there something else I can do to block these uv rays? I've read about people making another lens cover out of tempered glass and such. Anyone else have this light and let me know what they think.
Thanks

 

[MisFit]

As long as you keep using coralife bulbs you will be fine.

 

[ReferReefer]

As long as you keep using coralife bulbs you will be fine.

OHSNAP..

that being said I've got 36w over my 3g picotope... watch your temp and evap.

 

[shanet1975]

Thanks for the replies. I will mount the light as high as I can and watch temps. Is it true that the coralife bulbs are the only bulbs with the uv protectant glass casings?

 

[JayM]

yes. they're made specifically for those fixtures. There are a number of members here who changed away from a coralife bulb, and it wiped out a number of their corals.

I'll echo the suggestions to watch your temperature and evaporation with that fixture on a tank that size. That's a LOT of light for a 10g, even with a 20k bulb. I use a reef optic pendant with a 150w on my 40g frag tank and I get pretty solid growth. I don't worry about heat from it because it is tied into a 450 gallon system.

 

[shanet1975]

So what if temps start to climb to high. Is it ok to drop the amouint of time the lights are on, or will I have to look into some kind of water cooler downer I am pretty new to this and I apologize for any ignorant questions...

 

[JayM]

there are no ignorant questions...we're all here to help each other, and share our experiences. An inexpensive clip on fan blowing across the surface of your water will help with evaporative cooling, but at the same time, the evaporation will make you need to watch your topoff very carefully. It is also perfectly OK to run a shorter lighting period until you get this figured out. I hope it's already set up in a pretty cool room. Also, the thing to also try and avoid, besides high temps in general, is a lot of swing in temps.

 

[shanet1975]

Thanks again. I'll get an extra fan and see how it goes. Will just be minful and check on things often until I see how it will do. The tank is in my dining room which stays fairly cool. Never about 72.

 

[JayM]

that'sa good baseline temp...right where my central AC is set

 

[shanet1975]

Great. Thanks....Appreciate all the feedback