40 Breeder lights?

[1fishkeeper]

I was wanting to know what kind of T5HO light set up I should get for a 40 breeder. How many bulbs? What brand? Im not wanting to spend a arm and a leg for it eather. Right now Im just in the planing stages of it and just trying to get so ideas for it. I know alot of people like the Teks but I dont know they seem like they want alot for them. Is there anything close to that? Thanks for giving me your ideas and thoughts about it.

 

[seattle989]

You should talk to sarang/ or look at his build thread. his 40 breeder is astounding and his lighting unit is pretty simple i believe he is just running a single 250 metal halide with a luminarc. For my 50B anyways im thinking about running two 175 MH and two PC all retro fitted in a hood.

 

[brandyrb]

I'm running a 6 bulb TEK T5 fixture on one and a dual 250W HQI halide fixture on the other. It's really a matter of preference. With the TEK, no fans are required, with the halide fixture a cooling fan is required on the tank or the temp would get way too hot.

 

[roscoe]

YUP just like Harrison said it is rather simple. I run a 250w MH in a Lumenarc mini reflector driven by a IC ballast about 9'' above the tank. I also run 2 65w PC actinics to supplement. I have grown any and everything under it. It is a ghetto set-up but it is whats in the tank that I care about for that set-up. You are more than welcome to come by and check it out. While you are here you can check out my 270g DT in the office.

 

[roscoe]

I'm running a 6 bulb TEK T5 fixture on one and a dual 250W HQI halide fixture on the other. It's really a matter of preference. With the TEK, no fans are required, with the halide fixture a cooling fan is required on the tank or the temp would get way too hot.

Dang guys 2 250 over a 40b. I like that!!! It must be super bright. I am only running 2 250s over my 270g for the time being. I decided to shut the 400w down until I get more corals in there.

 

[brandyrb]

We actually didn't run our dual 250W halide fixture on our 40B display for very long because of the heat it produces and the extra electricity required to run it. With it running, one level of our house would loose power every time I plugged in the vaccuum, lol. I had the electrical outlets maxed out. We do use the halides on our 40B quartentine when treating new corals though. The halides produce better color in the corals imo than the T5s. I don't think I've figured out the right mix of bulbs for our T5 fixture.

 

[1fishkeeper]

Yeah Im wanting to go with T5's on this one. I run MH on my 90gal (well I use to when it was set up but will be setting it back up soon). My plan is mostly LPS in the 40. Im kind of planing on acans, and chalies.

 

[PCFishman]

I run a 250W flanked by 2 - 36" T-5s on both of my tanks. Depending on the type of corals you want to keep having T5s might be easier to obtain the desired level of flourescence. As brandyrb says it is really about preference.

 

[PCFishman]

If you are going LPS, definitely 6-8 T5s

 

[returnofsid]

A 6 bulb T5HO fixture, with proper reflectors, will allow you to grow anything you'd ever wanna grow, in an 18" deep tank. ATI SunPower or PowerModule would be choices 1 and 2, but very expensive. Next on the list would be Sunlight Supply's Tek5.

 

[brandyrb]

8 bulbs would be overkill. 4 or 6 would be fine. I chose 6 because I keep sps too.

 

[seattle989]

Quick question not wanting to steal 1fishkeeper thread. But would you rather on a 50B( just 2 inches taller than a regular 40 breeder) Have single 250mh with supplementary PC's or Dual 175mh with pc's? im keeping mostly rics, zoos, and sps.

 

[1fishkeeper]

Thats ok, its a good question on what kind of lights to run.