lighting for 8' tank?

[Anonymous]

It's been over 3 years since setting on my latest tank, and I still have not gotten around to re-building my old canopy to fit the dimensions of the new tank and to add the actinic PC's. I don't think it is ever gonna happen. So maybe I should start over and get some new lights - either pendents or complete fixtures.

Here are the specifics:

1) tank is 8' long x 27" wide x 30" tall.
2) I don't plan to keep sps, and probably won't keep clams, just softies and LPS.

As far as I know, nobody sells 8' fixtures, so my best options are either a pair of 3' or 4' fixtures, or 3 or 4 single bulb pendent fixtures. I am leaning towards the pendents, but am not sure if I can get away with only 3.

I'm leaning towards 400watt MH's, either 12k or 14k, so that I can avoid actinics alltogether. I had been running 400watt 10K, but didn't like the look without the actinics.

I had an electrician install 2 mechanical timers, with each timer controlling a set of 4 outlets. So there is no reason why I couldn't go with separate actinics.

The tank is in my office, so it needs to be quite (the fans I built into my last canopy were a bit loud). In addition, because the building turns off the ac on the weekends during summer, heat can be a problem, which is why I am leaning towards pendents.

Ok, I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Anonymous]

With just softies and LPS you don't need the 400watt MH. You could do this with VHO or T-5 only. If I was setting up this tank I would go with two - four bulb T-5 setups. Run 4 actinics on one ballast and four "white" bulbs on the other. Use the actinics for sun rise/sun set thing. No reason to spend the money on the massive setup + electricity +heat issues.

For what it's worth I ran a really nice LPS/Softy tank that was 30" tall on VHO only.

 

[Anonymous]

With just softies and LPS you don't need the 400watt MH. You could do this with VHO or T-5 only. If I was setting up this tank I would go with two - four bulb T-5 setups. Run 4 actinics on one ballast and four "white" bulbs on the other. Use the actinics for sun rise/sun set thing. No reason to spend the money on the massive setup + electricity +heat issues.

For what it's worth I ran a really nice LPS/Softy tank that was 30" tall on VHO only.

Thanks.

You raise a good point. I am not up to speed on the T-5 technology. Eliminating the heat issue is probably a good idea, although I thought going with MH pendents would also be effective.

Cost and electricity are not really a factor because the tank is in my office and I have a budget to cover these expenses (which is why I am dumpring my 4x 400w PFO ballasts, which seem to blow capacitors regularly).

But back to T-5. Any recommendations for manufacturers? All of the local fish retailers that I used to support have gone out of business over the past few years, so I will have to go mailorder. I have used Premium Aquatics and Custom Aquatics in the past, but I'm never sure if the rep I'm talking to can/will steer me in the right direction.

 

[Len]

T5s don't penetrate very well beyond about 20", but if you are ok with little coral in the lower third of the tank, it is the way I'd go to save a little bit on heat.

I'd personally go with 3 halides, 250 or 400W on electronic ballasts. This is going to be the easiest to upkeep since you only swap out 3 bulbs (as opposed to 10 to 20 T5 bulbs). 3 14K-20K halides will cover your tank just fine.

Premium Aquatics is a very fine vendor and is reasonably close to you. Marine Depot is good too, but farther (in SoCal). I've looked at both their lighting offerings, and they're all pretty respectable units. For T5s, Premium has a much nicer selection.

 

[Anonymous]

Even with just softies and LPS you would reccomend MH Len? I had really good growth on my leathers in a 30" deep tank with just four 48" vho bulbs. Even with the leathers all the way on the bottom.

 

[Len]

I recommend MH only because it's easier and cheaper to upkeep. 3 x 250W is so much easier to maintain than 8+ fluorescent bulbs (for a 8' tank, eight bulbs is the minimum i can see Mike getting away with).

 

[Anonymous]

That is a good point. I just always think actinc supplament with MH, so that would be 7 bulbs + heat.

 

[Anonymous]

I talked to Premium Aquatics earlier today. Their suggestion was to go with PFO halide/PC pendants, which they have clearenced. The pendants will run any size mogul based halide from 175 to 400, include an internal ballast for 2x 28 watt PC's, and a fan.

If I go this route, I could use 3 pendants, each with a 400watt halide and a pair of actinic PC's. As long as I can get 3 of the 4 PFO ballasts operating (only 2 are working at the moment), then I won't need to buy new ballasts. But I always have the option of picking up a set of electronic ballasts.

As far as the halides go, I figure 14K bulbs would be the best option. Although not as much light as 10k bulbs, i would be concerend that the PC actinics would get washed out by the halides.

I'm still thinking it through though.

 

[Anonymous]

Gotta agree the 400 watts would be overkill even for a 30" tank with softies and LPS.. could it work? Absolutely, but why pay for all that extra electricity if you don't have to.

My advice, Lumenarc pendants, 250w icecap (or some equivalent electronic ballast) PFOs are just going to overdrive those bulbs (more juice) and run the bulbs into the ground a lot quicker. 4 across the tank, no need for any supplements, put them on a timer so each bulb is only on 4-6 hours, and stagger them by 1-2 hours to get that sweeping sun feel

 

[Anonymous]

Gotta agree the 400 watts would be overkill even for a 30" tank with softies and LPS.. could it work? Absolutely, but why pay for all that extra electricity if you don't have to.

My advice, Lumenarc pendants, 250w icecap (or some equivalent electronic ballast) PFOs are just going to overdrive those bulbs (more juice) and run the bulbs into the ground a lot quicker. 4 across the tank, no need for any supplements, put them on a timer so each bulb is only on 4-6 hours, and stagger them by 1-2 hours to get that sweeping sun feel

Electricity costs are not an issue (tank is in my office). If I go with 250's, then I need to buy new ballasts (which I did say I was willing to do).

Maybe I could stick with the 400's and skip the actinics. Since I already have a pair of dual PFO 400 watt balasts (assuming I can get them all working), I could spread 4x 400 watt pendants across the tank and use a higher K bulb that will give me the color I want without actinics. But I've never used anthing other than 10000K Ushios and 6500k Iwasakis, so I don't know what would be a good choice. This is sort of what I had in mind to begin with.

 

[kgross]

Since you have the ballasts, and electricity is not an issue. I would say stick with the 400 watt ballasts you have. Just run some 14,000 or 20,000k bulbs and you should like the color of the tank, with nothing else needed. You could get those PFO MH/pc pendants, they would work very well, but the 2 28 watt pc's will not make much of a difference with 400 watt bulbs.

Kim

 

[SnowManSnow]

I'm growing more and more partial to full T5 fixtures

B

 

[Anonymous]

Gotta agree the 400 watts would be overkill even for a 30" tank with softies and LPS.. could it work? Absolutely, but why pay for all that extra electricity if you don't have to.

My advice, Lumenarc pendants, 250w icecap (or some equivalent electronic ballast) PFOs are just going to overdrive those bulbs (more juice) and run the bulbs into the ground a lot quicker. 4 across the tank, no need for any supplements, put them on a timer so each bulb is only on 4-6 hours, and stagger them by 1-2 hours to get that sweeping sun feel

Electricity costs are not an issue (tank is in my office). If I go with 250's, then I need to buy new ballasts (which I did say I was willing to do).

Maybe I could stick with the 400's and skip the actinics. Since I already have a pair of dual PFO 400 watt balasts (assuming I can get them all working), I could spread 4x 400 watt pendants across the tank and use a higher K bulb that will give me the color I want without actinics. But I've never used anthing other than 10000K Ushios and 6500k Iwasakis, so I don't know what would be a good choice. This is sort of what I had in mind to begin with.

Ah gotcha, then stick with the 400 watters, I'd do a reduced schedule for each bulb personally just due to the light maybe being too intense... don't know about a bulb though, everyone has differing opinions about what they like, and a 400w version can often be drastically different than a 250w version of the same brand/color temp of bulb.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, I think I have a plan, although I still have a couple details to work out. But maybe I will start a separate thread to cover those. Anywho, this is the cuurent plan.

Fix and re-use my pair of dual 400 watt PFO standard (magnetic) ballasts. Replace existing canopy and lighting components with 3 or 4 PFO pendants. I am exploring two options.

1) 4x Pendants with MH only, no actinic supplementation. These pendants do not have a built-in fan.

2) 3x (maybe 4x) Pendants with MW and PC actinics. These pendants include an internal ballast and connectors for 2x 28 watt PC's, as well as a built-in fan.

As to 2), I'm not sure that the 56 watts of actinic PC's will have much of an impact on the overall intensity and color (appearence) of the 400 watt MH. But it will allow me have a transition period with only actinics. I also like that a fan is included, but I'm not sure if the fan is critical since I will not be enclosing the pendants in a canopy.

In any event, I still need to figure out what my best choices are for 400 watt MH's with each option. I've look at Sanjay's website, but cannot really reach any conclusions. I know that appearence is subjective, but I would like some input.