Lighting a 5 foot tank?

[jezzeaepi]

I am presently working towards setting up a tank and would like to hear peoples suggestions on lighting. I know I want to go with a MH/T5 set up, but am not sure yet one what refelctors, or how many bulbs I should do for a 5 foot tank. Ill be going with a good 10k (most likely 10k reeflux), and some actinics for popping a little more color, and extending my viewing period. Ive decided Id rather run halides 8 horus a day, and the actinics for 11, then just halides for 8 or 9.


I want the tank to be SPS dominated, with some scatered LPS on the fringes of the MH light, and on the sand. The main goal of the tank will be growth, however I wont sacrafice color to do it(thus the actnic supplement, and reeflux 10k's). The tank itself will measure 60 inches long x 24 inches wide x 22 inches tall, although thats not set in stone because the tank itself doesnt exist yet.

After recieving some lighting advice from here: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22880
I decided on using 2 luminarc III's running 10k reeflux off of a dual 250W PFO HQI with 3 or 4 actinic T5's.

But then the other day in Jans thread most people suggested using 3 bulbs to light a 5 foot tank, not 2. But If I go with three I think Im going to have a hard time fitting 3 luminarc III's over a 60 inch tank made of acrlyic. Not to mention that If I use PFO HQI ballasts to run them(to get the color I like), they will be producing closer to 350 watts a piece insted of 250.

So should I stay with the original plan of the 2 lumin III's on the hqi ballast with the actinic supplements, or go with a different approach? Remember growth is my goal, so if what I proposed wont be enough then please let me know. If you suggest using atleast 3 bulbs, then what reflector would you recomend? Remember the tank is going to be 24 inches wide, so whatever reflector it is, it must have good spread.



Peace,
Jesse

 

[jezzeaepi]

So you guys are saying I should scrap everything and go with a 6 foot tank? =P

 

[loohunter]

the rule of thumb is 1 halide per 2 ft so that means that there will be 6 inches per side that would not be lit efficiently. that is no big deal in my opinion. also consider that 1 more halide is going to produce alot more heat. hth

 

[szidls]

Jesse,
After having a 60" tank I would go to a 6' tank for the lighting. I ran 2 hallides on the 150. Even though I had good coral growth I had to really watch sps placement. I think I would run 3 MH on a 5' tank if I had to do it again. So if it's in the budget to change to a 6' tank I would just for ease of lighting and more water volume.
Scott

 

[Jan]

Jesse,

Have you looked at the luminarc mini's? Maybe you could fit 3 of those in there....

 

[Scooterman]

After having a 5ft tank I was torn that same way, 5ft is a in between tank, with a center brace It made my decision to use only two with Vho's easier because that brace always needed cleaning, like twice a day to really get the usefulness of that light in the center, so I decides against the third light. Now that said, not all tanks have that center brace, & like Scott said if you want entirely sps & the higher light demanding ones then your in a pickle & that third light would cover your tank completely. Luminarc makes the Minni's, PFO makes a nice fixture & also sunlight supply makes a nice one. Luminarc also has the new black enclosure pendants you could squeeze in there but for any of these you better have enough height in your hood, another problem to think about. Last cooling, extra heat to deal with tighter space, where that 6ft tank would give you a little more working room. So you have to consider your goals, what you want to keep, in a 5ft tank you can make two work with the large LII's jacked up slightly they will cover most all of the tank, it will not be noticeable to the eyes & if you add a few T5's your looking very nice. Either way, It will come down to what you want & what your wanting to do to make either way work for that 5ft tank.