Can I do MHs?

[Bored4ever86]

I have a single t5 lighting my 180 temporarily while I decide what to do lighting wise, time I finally jump on that as corals are gonna be added soon. Dims of the tank are 23x23x72, 1/2in acrylic. I have 10in from the surface of the acrylic to the underside of the canopy, and another 1-1.5in from the acrylic to the surface of the water. I plan to do mostly zoas, palys, hammer, frogspawn, mushrooms, other softies etc, and potentially some LPS in the future.

I wanted to do t5's but I'm afraid of not enough light penetration. Can I do MH and no melt/warp the acrylic? If so I was thinking 3 250w without reflectors, will that work? also how should I mount them so as to keep them as far away from the acrylic as possible?

 

[bigblue141]

T-5's should do the trick fine. T12 VHO'S would work too. For the money you might even be able to do LED as well <--- The savings would be noted in your monthly power bill and yearly bulb replacements.

What ever you use you want to use reflectors so you're putting all the light in the tank, not under 50%.

Get lots of air flow (fans) to keep the Halides from warping/crazing/melting the acrylic.

 

[Bored4ever86]

Get lots of air flow (fans) to keep the Halides from warping/crazing/melting the acrylic.

I was planing on going to target or something to get a couple clip on fans for putting an in and out for the stand, I can certainly do the same for the hood.

Just looked up LED prices.... 3 grand for LED's now or 3 grand over then next 5yrs in power/bulb costs....

 

[mfinn]

Yes you can use mh lighting. Many people who have acrylic tanks use mh lighting.
Look into the retrofit kits that can be bought at places like hellolights.com.

 

[returnofsid]

Yes, you can do MH lighting, but I'd suggest using some type of reflector, even if it's a retrofit reflector.

Also, T5s will penetrate just fine, as long as you have enough bulbs, with quality contoured reflectors. T5s will allow you to grow whatever you want, in your depth of tank. I'm using 10X54 watt T5s, over a 27" deep, 200 gallon tank. I can grow whatever I want.

 

[Bored4ever86]

Yes, you can do MH lighting, but I'd suggest using some type of reflector, even if it's a retrofit reflector.

Also, T5s will penetrate just fine, as long as you have enough bulbs, with quality contoured reflectors. T5s will allow you to grow whatever you want, in your depth of tank. I'm using 10X54 watt T5s, over a 27" deep, 200 gallon tank. I can grow whatever I want.

Sid you've got me convinced, (seen pictures of your tank) to go t5's, I wanted so desperately to go this route as the system is in my mom's house, which i'd be paying the entire power bill in doing my mh's. Anyone got some recommendations of fixtures/retros for the hood? I'm thinking atleast a 8 bulb prob a 10-12 bulb if it'll fit... I'm on a budget lately as I haven't been getting enough hours at work to compensate....

 

[returnofsid]

Well, with a footprint of 23X6', I'd suggest going with 3' fixtures. You could go with 2X3' 6 bulb fixtures. Nova does make a 6' fixture, but the fixture is only 12" wide, so I doubt the coverage is very good. Oh wait, you have a canopy, so would probably want to go with a DIY retrokit. Check out http://www.reefgeek.com/ for fixture and retrofit kits.

 

[Bored4ever86]

Well, with a footprint of 23X6', I'd suggest going with 3' fixtures. You could go with 2X3' 6 bulb fixtures. Nova does make a 6' fixture, but the fixture is only 12" wide, so I doubt the coverage is very good. Oh wait, you have a canopy, so would probably want to go with a DIY retrokit. Check out http://www.reefgeek.com/ for fixture and retrofit kits.

What brand would be the best, seems like they all come with IC660's to overdrive the 39w, wouldn't it be better to only slightly overdrive the 54W?

 

[returnofsid]

Actually, unless you're going to run fans, I wouldn't recommend overdriving. The problem with the 54W bulbs, is they're only 48", but you could stagger their location, in your canopy, to give you full coverage. I'd give Greg a call, at reefgeek. He's great and can give you lots of information!! I don't know about the retrofit kits, but the fixtures use an Advanced Ballast, but I can't remember the brand...lol. I recently replaced one, so I'll look at my paperwork, to get the brand name.


If you were to go with fixtures, instead of a retrofit kit, and were wanting recommendations on brands, it would depend on your budget. If you have a large budget, and want the best, I'd recommend the ATI Powermodules. These can't be beat!! Next step down would be the ATI Sun Power, then Tek5 Elite and finally Tek5. These are all very adequate fixtures.

 

[TJL]

A BIG +1 on Sids advice, although I really like my VHO's on my 75g now, when I go big again I'm planning on a multiple T5HO for fine tuning spectrum w/ HO LED 's for shimmer unless LED only systems come WAY DOWN in price.

Todd

 

[Bored4ever86]

Actually, unless you're going to run fans, I wouldn't recommend overdriving. The problem with the 54W bulbs, is they're only 48", but you could stagger their location, in your canopy, to give you full coverage. I'd give Greg a call, at reefgeek. He's great and can give you lots of information!! I don't know about the retrofit kits, but the fixtures use an Advanced Ballast, but I can't remember the brand...lol. I recently replaced one, so I'll look at my paperwork, to get the brand name.


If you were to go with fixtures, instead of a retrofit kit, and were wanting recommendations on brands, it would depend on your budget. If you have a large budget, and want the best, I'd recommend the ATI Powermodules. These can't be beat!! Next step down would be the ATI Sun Power, then Tek5 Elite and finally Tek5. These are all very adequate fixtures.

I'll give him a call tomorrow hopefully he can steer me into the perfect lighting scheme for my tank

 

[NC2WA]

No one has brought this up, but is this the correct dimensions? 23x23x72 (lxwxh)

the way I read that you tank is 6 ft tall???? I am assuming not, and is actually 23 inches??

if so, T5 should be fine and Reefgeek is a good source for bulbs. I have T5 actinics bulbs from RG and are great.

You are welcome to swing by and see them anytime.

Kirk

 

[Bored4ever86]

No one has brought this up, but is this the correct dimensions? 23x23x72 (lxwxh)

the way I read that you tank is 6 ft tall???? I am assuming not, and is actually 23 inches??

if so, T5 should be fine and Reefgeek is a good source for bulbs. I have T5 actinics bulbs from RG and are great.

You are welcome to swing by and see them anytime.

Kirk

sorry about the confusion... its 72x23x23 (those are internal dims too, just to be fun)

 

[bigblue141]

If I'm not mistaken, there are 60" T5 HO's on the market. You could stagger them and little bit, and the majority of your light will be were you want it... In the middle of the tank.

Sid, even with running only T5's wouldn't you still want small fans blowing across your bulbs? I know that they don't produce very much heat, but don't you still want the heat removed from under your canopy?

 

[returnofsid]

Yes, there are 60" T5HO bulbs.

You bring up a very good point about the fans, which I often fail to comment on, since I don't have a canopy, so forget.

T5s produce very little heat. My fixture can be on 8 hours and I can put my hand against the bulbs. However, cooling T5 bulbs has several benefits. Longer bulb life, longer end cap life and it drastically increases PAR.

Situating fans, to blow the length of the bulb, will serve all of these benefits, the greatest of which is increased PAR for your tank inhabitants, IMO.

If you overdrive T5HO, it's imperative that you use fans.