Your lighting choices

[Capslock]

Hello.

46gal bowfront reef
36" length; about 21" height

What are your recommendations for lighting? It will be mostly coral.
The gentleman that owned my tank before me used a
"SUNPOD 36" 300w HQI 24-hour Lighting System"

Thoughts and recommendations?

EDIT: I would love to have a ripple effect, I have read the type of light matters for this

 

[mr_X]

you will get the "ripple effect" from halides. what types of corals will you keep?
some corals will need very little light, while small polyp stony corals demand more light.
i would go with 2 x 250watt halides. then you can keep anything.

 

[Capslock]

Im not exactly sure what the majority of the tank will be yet, I was kinda hoping for a bit of a mix.

I will take your recommendations so I will have the flexibility down the road, thank you.

 

[ChrisRD]

Without knowing your preferences (ie. do you prefer the "daylight" look, or the bluer look?, looking for a MH only setup, or MH + fluorescent?) and what you're planning on keeping IMO it's really not possible to give a recommendation that's worth much...

Having too much light can be just as limiting as not having enough. Some corals won't fully expand/thrive if they're getting pounded with light. Assuming decent output lamps and good reflectors, 2 X 250s over that tank is going to be overkill for all but the most light demanding animals.

I'm assuming this tank has a centerbrace?

 

[Capslock]

I have been doing some research and I am getting a clearer idea as to what I am looking for in lighting; but I am still lost

As far as my initial feelings, I am leaning towards a deeper blue look as opposed to a daylight look, I think. I would like to have my corals lit up nicely but I don't think I want a daylight look.

I have found some lights that I guess light up to certain brightnesses on a given time throughout the day to give daylight look and then moonlight look, and to simulate a normal day for the tank inhabitants, what are your thoughts on this? Also, should I expect to be seeing $400 for lights or am I searching in the wrong places?

I am trying to stay on track here; from everything that I looked at, I want to go the SPS route (thats the soft coral right? I get confused) at least for the majority of the start. Does this answer your question chris or should I be diving deeper?

 

[mr_X]

sps means small polyp stony- they are the hard corals that need stronger light.
i have 3x 400 watt halides, plus 440 watts of vho actinic over my tank and even the less demanding corals are doing fine. nothing suffers from the effects of too much light. now, bear in mind that my tank is 25 inches deep, but i still disagree that a couple 250's will be too much.
you might look into an outer orbit fixture, or something comparable, which has halides, actinics for morning and evening, and moonlights, all on different cords, so you can put them all on timers. unfortunately, they only sell a 36" fixture with a single 150 watt halide in it, which would be ok for some folks :?
http://www.aquariumpros.com/p-CUR1041.html

then you have the current sunpods, which have 2x150 halides, but only a bunch of LED's for evening/morning transitions.
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... =Current-H

here..browse the halide lighting on this site to give you some ideas:

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... etalhalide

 

[Anonymous]

I have 2x 150 watt HQI's over my 50 gallon. In retrospect I wished I spent more and got 175, or 250's that were mentioned. I wonder if 250 is too much?? My 150's give me plenty of light and a dent in the electric bill.

If you were thinking of having LPS, the softer corals, then T5 bulbs are plenty. Power Compacts are what you're looking for and they're in your $300 price range. They will light up your tank very well. They're inexpensive and don't burn up much electricity.

Metal Halides can run tripe more than that, but if you can DIY (do it yourself) then you can do it in your price range. You'll be open to anything.

 

[Capslock]

Thanks for all the input.

I have been looking at orbit fixtures and they seem to be where I will be heading with this. I have cathedral ceilings so I cannot simply hang lamps from there so these orbit fixtures with light stilts seem perfect.

Its suprising to see that even standard florescents in this type of base is as priced as they are. I guess since aquariums have been around for so long I expected prices to be a bit different.

No matter though.

mr_x thanks for all the links, that final link you sent I read previously but did read it again.

MrktPLayer, since you mentioned the electric bill, exactly what type of increase should I expect to see if I were to get a 24/7 system that included daylight and moonlight settings? I know prices range from place to place so maybe a kwH usage would be great to know.

I am thinking of going compact florescent. Ill be doing more research since this isnt a purchase that will be happening soon, but the more info the better.

Thanks

 

[Capslock]

Question:
What exactly is a T5 anyways? and i also have seen someone sell a t12?
T5 looks slick, I assume these are florescent bulbs that are extremely thin?

Again, I am also looking for the most efficient on the electric bill.

 

[mr_X]

T12 are vho bulbs. those are the strongest(wattage-wise).
T5 are supposed to be pretty good if you use individual reflectors for each bulb. i hear this is critical.
T5's are also alot less wattage than T12, 54 watts compared to 110.
a friend of mine keeps sps and clams under T5 bulbs with success. he replaced his T12 setup with the new T5, and i bought his T12's.
by the naked eye, his tank doesn't look quite as bright as it was before, but if his corals are doing well, using half the wattage, that's all that matters i suppose.
BTW- there's no "shimmer effect" with these flourescent bulbs.

i suggest against compact flourescent. i would go T5 if anything. even if the cf fixture has more watts, it's not going to be as potent as T5.

for morning/evening transitions, using the compact flourescent as actinic suppliment, they will be fine, but i don't suggest you use them as your daylight bulbs.

 

[Anonymous]

I have the 36" Outer Orbit Fixture. 2x150 watts, with all the pumps running my estimate on electricity is $30 per month. That's a pretty rough guess. The moonlights take up very little wattage.

 

[cindre2000]

As long as you have individual reflectors, T5 HO's easily beat T12 VHO's and Compact Flourescent. When you toss in Icecap ballasts and the maximum number of bulbs over the tank, you can beat Metal Halides in the level of light. However, you still don't get glimmer lines.

I personally would run T5's and halides on any larger aquarium I set up. However, the small size of your aquarium limits your options. T5's will be the more efficient and economical for you to run. Halides are nice; however, due to their spread, they most efficient on wider aquariums than you have, thus you get less wasted light with T5's.

As for prices, a lot of fixtures can be horrendously overpriced since you are paying for something you "cannot do*" as well as the aesthetic look. However, if you just go with a canopy you can save a bit of money.

*Electricity is actually very easy to learn, especially when related to aquarium lighting.

 

[Anonymous]

I have seen used MH fixtures in your price range

 

[Capslock]

I would build the lighting myself, the girl on the other hand would like a more appealing look to the tank since it is the side-center of the apt. Its fine, I found myself that I will be paying [muich] more for pre-fab lighting but it would make everyone happy so no big deal.

as for the height of the light, I am looking for something as thin as possible.

I found different lighting ideas and I would like to post links for you to give me some opinions if any.

Here are a few that I would like opinions on if you could.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113030

How can I tell how high this one goes?
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 004+113030

I could always add LED lights to the system correct? with T5's, I am a little confused, from what I understand there is less watts with the same output as comparable VHO?
this is too little? (this one is 1.5inch high which is why i am considering it)
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~ ... ndor~.html

 

[Anonymous]

I had the 2nd one... the Coralife Power Compacts. This picture is to give you an idea of what it looks like. I can't comment on the difference between the other ones you mentioned.

Be forewarned, with these lights you will be limited on what you can keep.

 

[ChrisRD]

IMO there's too much focus on wattage in these lighting discussions. A good 150 or 175 watt halide lamp+ballast+reflector combination can easily outperform a mediocre 250 watt halide setup. It will also be less costly to run and make heat management that much easier. Same for T-5s - a good unit with quality individual lamp reflectors can put more light to the corals running 1 or 2 less lamps than a cheaper unit with a single large reflector.

Personally I would not be looking at cheap fixtures for my own tank. Cheap fixtures will have cheap lamps and crappy reflectors which will result in poor light output (thus the need for higher wattages to get adequate light). I agree that for smaller tanks like this that have a centerbrace, if you're not hung-up on the shimmer thing, T-5s are an excellent option.

Personally, for a pre-fab T-5 unit on this tank that would provide enough light to keep anything, I'd be looking at one of the higher quality units like this: http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... quactinics

Whatever you choose, get something with good reflectors - it makes all the difference in the world. For T-5 setups this means going with something that has well designed individual lamp reflectors.

JMO

 

[ChrisRD]

Just to give you an idea, here's a pic of a good pendent/reflector with a quality 150 DE lamp running on the correct (M81) ballast:
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... le+pendent

I later added a second (identical) pendent to that tank and it was BRIGHT. On several occasions I accidentally bleached out some SPS frags that came from larger tanks lit by 250/400 watt setups.

Also, there's a few pics in this article of Greg Schiemer's 42 Hex where he kept acros, etc. under a single 150 DE lamp...
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/ ... hterm=None

HTH

 

[cindre2000]

Heh, I have the same fixture as as Greg Schiemer over my 14" cube. Except I have a different ballast and a crappy bulb right now...

I would say go with T5 HO lighting. Its probably the cheapest to run, and this the thinnest. You may have to search around for a fixture that has parabolic reflectors since most of the fixtures I have seen have crappy individual reflectors so they can pack more bulbs in and charge more. 2-3 bulbs with individual reflectors and a normal ballast should be all you ever need unless you go with very light demanding corals.

 

[Capslock]

Thanks guys,
that helps put a better picture to this.

One thing I thought about last night was, I have skylights in my apt and while they do not shine directly onto the tank, the tank is in the brightest part of the room.

With that said, do I still need a light source on top of the tank to give the little corals the light that they demand? Just a thought. And also along that line of though, could I end up with a smaller wattage of light if I could use the skylights as a compliment to the daylight lighting in the tank?

 

[ChrisRD]

Natural light can definitely help, but I can't say I have much experience with it.

Some folks use skylights, solatubes, etc. to provide light in their tanks. From what I've seen, usually at least some supplimental lighting is also needed with most indoor setups.

To get a better idea of how plausible the idea is, you might see if you can get a local reefer with a light meter to take some readings...