Help with lighting ideas

[charliethetuna88]

So I am in the process of seting up my 300 gallon 72"x36"x27" ..I am planning on running 3 -250 watt metal halides with radium bulbs .im trying to figure out what to go with for supplimental actinics .I like t5 s .should I go with 4x 72" t5s or 8-36" watt t5 also I need them to hang and reflect down so they dont interfear with the light from the metal halides .any ideas for me im open to almost anything ?

 

[Tonyscoots84]

The way you are explaining it sounds like you will need to put thet5's on an angle

 

[charliethetuna88]

Yeah unless I hang them next to the halides right ?

 

[Tonyscoots84]

Yes sir

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Either way you have plenty of room over that tank to play around with it. You could even push the whole lighting rig towards the back a few inches and keep some of the light off the front glass to cut down on algae. I think going with the 36" bulbs would give you more options if you decide to play with the colors.

A pic of the area over the tank might help too.

 

[skene]

What I am not understanding is... how exactly are you asking T5 bulb lighting not to interfere with the mh? I don't believe there is a way to stop lighting from bleeding through as it will do so without anything blocking it... Are you trying to minimize the penetration area of the T5s? If that's the case you can always play around with reflector angle so that it focuses light towards the rear of the tank.

 

[charliethetuna88]

No I dont want a unit that goes on the rim of the tank like the t5 fixtures with the legs .I want to hang it next to the halides

 

[NYreefNoob]

look at totm jim has had great success with mh and vho, plus i dont think anything gives as good of a antic as vho's

 

[LongIslandAndy]

look at totm jim has had great success with mh and vho, plus i dont think anything gives as good of a antic as vho's

+1

 

[lfsmarineguy]

On a built in tank I wouldn't use actual units for the fluorescent bulbs since you are going to need to vent the entire top anyway. Just get the retro kits of the size you want which also lets you place each of the bulbs exactly where you want them.