All about lighting

[Krish]

Thought it would be cool for people to post the type of lighting they are currently using and how many watts per gal they are running. In addition, might even be helpful if you mention what type of tank you have (ie reef, fish only, softy tank etc). Might come in handy for those trying to decide on lighting options.


I'll go first with 3 of my old setups seeing I am tankless at the moment.


PFO dual 250w metal halides on 75gal fowlr tank - 6.6 watts per gal

PFO single 250 watt metal halide on 38gal reef tank - 6.5 watts per gal

Current USA 150w hqi metal halide on 24 gal Aquapod (reef) - 6.25 watts per gal

 

[eww]

Current set-ups

DIY T5HO 4x34W with indvidual TekII reflectors 2 bulbs on Icecap and 2 bulbs on std ballast (for now) on 70 gal 30" tall reef tank - 1.94 watts per gal without the Icecap overdrive figured in (not sure what it is), and yes, we have plenty of light

4x34W 4 bulb T5 fixture on 29 gal frag tank - 4.69 watts per gal

Bulbs are 2 Actinic+, 1 Aquablue Special, I Fiji Purple

 

[Dalbery]

Tek Elite 48" 8x54watts, 230 gallon tank 30" deep. mostly softies mid to low in tank and a couple sps up higher. I really am liking T5.

 

[NC2WA]

2 x 250w 10K MH, 4x39w T5 HO CurrentUSA actinics aquablue, 375g 29 inch deep.

Mostly fish (16), most corals are LPS, but have a couple SPS

 

[Reefdaddy1]

Thought it would be cool for people to post the type of lighting they are currently using and how many watts per gal they are running. In addition, might even be helpful if you mention what type of tank you have (ie reef, fish only, softy tank etc). Might come in handy for those trying to decide on lighting options.


I'll go first with 3 of my old setups seeing I am tankless at the moment.


PFO dual 250w metal halides on 75gal fowlr tank - 6.6 watts per gal

PFO single 250 watt metal halide on 38gal reef tank - 6.5 watts per gal

Current USA 150w hqi metal halide on 24 gal Aquapod (reef) - 6.25 watts per gal

OMG Look who crawled outa the woodwork, MY old freind whats up bud?

 

[khaosinc]

umm...

36-36" t-5s and 24-48" t'5s and 12 3w LEDs (moon lights) I think..

3.6w or something

 

[Krish]

OMG Look who crawled outa the woodwork, MY old freind whats up bud?

Haha!!! Everything is good Bob!! How ya bee?? You will be seeing a lot more of me! Hopefully really soon I can add a post to this thread with my new setup

 

[Myteemouse]

125= only 20" deep
2x 250w MH single ended Icecapo ballast Coralvue 14K
2x 54w T5's actinic on workhorse ballast.
124 = 4 watts per gallon

50 gallon 4x 24w T-5's Tek light
2w per gallon for now(might at more later

 

[returnofsid]

Great Thread!!

Past tanks:

29 Mixed softy/LPS with 2X65 watt PC

46 Bowfront Mixed Softy/LPS/RBTA and a couple SPS with 2X96 watt PC. ( While my RBTA did great, for several years, under this lighting, I'm not at all advocating that it was enough light. I just got lucky)

75 Mixed Reef, Predominately SPS/Zoanthids/Clams with 6X54 Tek5 T5HO

Current Tanks:

40 Breeder Reef/Frag Tank/Anemone with 6X39 watt Tek5 T5HO

Angie's 24 gallon Aquapod with a 150MH Sunpod fixture (6 white LEDs, 6 blue LEDs)

200 gallon Deep Dimension. SPS/LPS/Zonathids/Clams/RBTA with 2 Tek5 fixtures, for a total of 10X54 watt T5HO.

In case you aren't already aware, you'll soon figure out that I'm a huge proponent of T5HO lighting!!!
Lots of pictures available on my Flickr site, which is linked in my signature!!

 

[ac7av]

Currently I have a 72in odyssea light fixture with four 50/50, 96 watt CF bulbs and three 250 watt HQI bulbs. The center bulb is a 14K and the outer two are 20K. My fixture is one of the older ones with the silver ballasts and I did the mod to them to actually get 250 watts out of them. This is a 210 gallon so I guess that puts it at 5.4 watts per gallon.

 

[ntswift]

260 gal Reef w/ 3x400 watt halides=4.6 watts per gal. They are Hamilton SE 14k spectrum- Really awesome blue coloring on them. I have everything from softies to SPS and all doing great!

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

72 gallon bowfront - 4 VHO bulb setup (I don't have it quite yet, but I am meeting the guy in a week to get it) 6.1 watts per gallon

12 gallon nano - Current USA 70w MH fixture. 5.3 watts per gallon (thats great for a nano tank!) 14,000k bulb

 

[fragallrock]

watts cooking

75 gal tank 2x 250 hqi 20,000k 4x54 t-5 pure atinics 716 watts total = 9.54 wpg

 

[Krish]

75 gal tank 2x 250 hqi 20,000k 4x54 t-5 pure atinics 716 watts total = 9.54 wpg

Wow! What kind of tank is this lighting on?? SPS?? And how are they responding to it?? The setup I was considering on doing would run me to about 7 watts per gal and I thought that was alot :shock:

 

[fragallrock]

Wow! What kind of tank is this lighting on?? SPS?? And how are they responding to it?? The setup I was considering on doing would run me to about 7 watts per gal and I thought that was alot :shock:

acans , zoo's and a few leathers mini maxi's rba don't do sps loving it grows like crazy

 

[khaosinc]

LOL... I'm sure glad I don't worry about the WPG 'rule'... I can barely keep anything in the top 3rd of ,y tank as it is..

 

[trido]

My 210 had,

3 400watt MH
2 160watt VHO
2 80watt T-5

1680 watts / 210 = 8 watts per gallon. 30" deep mixed reef

 

[Michael7979]

I have an 8ft long, 24" deep 240g tank with mostly SPS. But a few LPS in there too.
I run 4x 400w MHs (radiums on PFO HQI), 4x 110w VHO actinics= 8.5 wpg.

 

[returnofsid]

LOL... I'm sure glad I don't worry about the WPG 'rule'... I can barely keep anything in the top 3rd of ,y tank as it is..

Watts/gallon rule is archaic, outdated and doesn't really mean much, so you're good. This is why I didn't bother to mention my Watts/gallon, in my original post.

For example, I'm running 540 watts of T5HO, with individually contoured reflectors, over a 200 gallon, 27" deep tank.

That's 2.7 watts/gallon.

I can grow SPS anywhere in my tank, including on the glass bottom.

 

[rainydave]

40 breeder - Aquatic Life 36" 4 bulb T5 (running stock bulbs for now)
4 x 39w = 3.8 w/gallon