New Reef Tank Lighting Question

[ruab]

I currently have a 75 gallon (48"x18"x22") tank with a 4x65W lighting setup. I have been running this tank (my first) for about a year now, and am really enjoying the hobby. It's a reef with 6 fish, and a bunch of corals (mushrooms, zoa's, leathers, a brain, and a few others).

Now that I feel comfortable in the hobby, I would like to step up to a larger tank and enough lighting to keep more advanced corals, anemones, and clams. Due to constraints in the only decent space in my house for a tank, I have been thinking about a variety of tank sizes to go with. Lighting however, seems to be my sticking point. The space the tank will go is a 2 story ceiling, so hanging lights isnt a great option for me. I had my eyes on the 48" Aqualight Pro HQI (2x250 MH, 2x96 PC Actinic, 692W total). So my question is, would this light be sufficient for the following tanks -

150G - 48Lx30Dx24H
190G - 48Lx30Dx30H

185G - 60Lx30Dx24H
185G - 60Lx24Dx30H

On the 60" tanks, I assume I would have to come up with some sort of hanging mechanism for either a 48" light, or some pendants. Does anyone sell something like this, or would it have to be custom built?

Are there any other lights someone might recommend, instead of the Aqualight?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[ChrisRD]

That light is manufactured by Coralife, correct? Personally I'm not a big fan of Coralife products. IMO/IME their quality leaves something to be desired.

That said, and although I've never owned one, that fixture seems like it would be adequate for most photosynthetic animals. In a deeper tank (ie. 30" tall) you might want to keep the truly light demanding stuff off the bottom. One thing to consider that may be an issue - I think that fixture has external ballasts. If you don't have a convenient place to put these somewhere near the tank that can be an issue.

Another option would be to build a canopy and get a retrofit setup. Personally, for a 30" wide tank I would consider going with Moguls. Many of the Mogul reflector designs give better spread than what you're currently looking at. If you need to hide ballasts by mounting them inside the stand, etc. I would look into electronic ballasts (much smaller, lighter and cooler running than magnetics).

HTH

 

[trido]

One other thing to consider... A 30" deep tank is difficult to reach the bottom in unless you are tall and have long arms. I'm near six feet and can just reach the bottom of my 24"deep tank.

 

[shavo]

I have a 72 " orbit lighting system that I am very happy with. It comes with legs that sits on the tank. They make a 60" orbit extreme with 3 metal halides in it, It is a 24 hour lighting system and has the moon light led's in it, it is really cool.

I mean if you have the money for it. but if you want clams and stuff make sure you get the orbit extreme and not just the orbit.

 

[ruab]

Are you referring to the Outer Orbit HQI? I cannot find an Orbit Extreme in 60" (and it looks like they are CF only).

That fixture is 2x150 MH and 2x130 Actinic (560W total). Does that seem like enough light for the 60Lx30Dx24H? Is watts per gallon a useful way to measure, or is the type of light vs. the height of the tank more important?

If I went with a canopy, and some MH pendant style lights, what kind of heat issues will I have?

Thanks for all the help so far.

--Jason

 

[trido]

If I went with a canopy, and some MH pendant style lights, what kind of heat issues will I have?


--Jason

Nothing a cooling fan shouldnt take care of. If you are in a hot climate and dont have AC in your home you may need a chiller regardless of what kind of lighting you use.

 

[ruab]

I'm in texas, so its hot, but I do have AC. I was pretty much planning on a chiller with any of these lighting systems (my current tank with egg-crate tops runs as high as 82 on bad days..).

Anyone have any experience with Hamilton Lighting? They have this light -

5' PROTOSTAR 3 - 250 WATT 10,000K HQI & 2 COMPACT FL 2-96W

Which is 942W total, much more than any of the previous options. The only issue with their light is they dont make a mounting kit, so I would have to rig something up.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Anonymous]

Have you considerd building a hood and putting pendants or reflextors in it? What part of Texas are you in?

 

[ruab]

I'm in Austin, TX.

I have looked at the option of building a hood, and it is still on the table as a possibility. Unfortunately, due to the floorplan of my house, we have a few less than ideal choices of a location for the tank. The choice we selected is against an angled halfwall for the staircase. It is a U shaped staircase, so the wall isnt very long (about 68"), and ranges from 10" to about 66" in height. My only concern with a hood is that the tank might look too odd if it gets too tall.

I've been really happy with my LFS, and he has a guy that custom builds the furniture for him, so I have lots of options for customization. If I did decide to do a hood with pendants/reflectors in it, how tall would you recommend I go? 12"? 18"?

I seem to be leaning towards the 60Lx30Dx24H tank, and doing either that Hamilton light, or a custom hood. I'm more of a software guy than a hardware guy, so the "all-in-one" nature of the light fixture appeals to me more. For that tank size, if I went custom, how much lighting would you recommend?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[shavo]

hi my apologies, I didn't know the website off hand and you were correct, the HQI is the one I wuold have wanted if i knew what I was doing when i first started. I mean I am happy with my light now (orbit) but if I knew i would have gotten the outer orbit.

here is the website where i got mine at,

http://www.webaquatics.com

just click on the left hand side for lighting. I thought they were decent pricing and everything came as advertised.

good luck with all of your decisions!!!!! post pics when you get it running!

 

[Anonymous]

I'm in Austin, TX.

I have looked at the option of building a hood, and it is still on the table as a possibility. Unfortunately, due to the floorplan of my house, we have a few less than ideal choices of a location for the tank. The choice we selected is against an angled halfwall for the staircase. It is a U shaped staircase, so the wall isnt very long (about 68"), and ranges from 10" to about 66" in height. My only concern with a hood is that the tank might look too odd if it gets too tall.

I've been really happy with my LFS, and he has a guy that custom builds the furniture for him, so I have lots of options for customization. If I did decide to do a hood with pendants/reflectors in it, how tall would you recommend I go? 12"? 18"?

I seem to be leaning towards the 60Lx30Dx24H tank, and doing either that Hamilton light, or a custom hood. I'm more of a software guy than a hardware guy, so the "all-in-one" nature of the light fixture appeals to me more. For that tank size, if I went custom, how much lighting would you recommend?

Thanks,
Jason

I'm in Cypress (NW Houston)

I know what you mean about locations. My house was also short on places to put a large tank. Luckily my wife agreed to let me have the dining room to convert to a tank/sitting/library room.

Tall is not bad on a big tank. My stand is 40" tall and the total set up is right about 80" tall (exact same height as a standard door opening). My tank is in a room that has a 9 ft ceiling so the hieght looks fine.

For the hood height that would depend on the light you would use. I use DE reflectors and have the lights about 6" off the water. Because of how I mounted them I got away with a short hood (14" tall IIRC). You would have to figure out the reflector/pendant you want if you want to design as short a hood as possible. If not you can make a tall hood and leave room for adjustment.

For a 60" tank I would probably use 3 ea 250 watt setups with 2 ea 60" actinic VHO. I think you could use 2 bulbs, but they would have to be up higher to give you the spread. If I were to go the two bulb route I would use 2 ea 400 watt MH with the 2 ea 60" vho actinic. This would require you to have a tall hood.

Pictures here. Start from the end and work backwards for the most recient pics.

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... &start=160

 

[ruab]

I just got back from a long chat with my LFS owner, and I think I've started to come to some decisions. I'm going with the 60Lx30Dx24H tank, the Hamilton light (3x250 MH, 2x96 CF Actinic). Sump, skimmer (not sure which yet), chiller, and a couple of new powerheads (not happy with the Rio's I have now).

He's having his annual sale in November, so I'll order the stuff then, and hopefully have everything moved to the new tank in December!

Thanks for all the help!

--Jason

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a good set-up. When you get closer to deciding what skimmer you are going to get make another post here. There are definently some models that are much better than others.