Lighting Help!

[Quigley]

Thank You for your help!

My wife and I recently purchased a used 100g saltwater fish setup with the idea of converting it to a reef tank.

The 100g tank measures 48L x 18W x 27H, and has a 20g sump/refug.

Current lighting is 6 - 65 watt 50/50 PC bulbs from two Coralife 48" fixtures. One fixture has 2 -65 watt bulbs on a single switch. And the other has 4 - 65 watt bulbs, on 2 switches, and also has night LED's. All the bulbs are 18 months old. Both lights sit about 6" above the water under a vented canopy.

We have the tank set up with the inherited fish, while we learn about reefing, and how best to make the conversion. Presently we do not have any corals in the tank. Next on our list of project is proper lighting.

Lighting Question:
I want to replace the aged PC bulbs with ones that will give us the most flexibility in raising different types of corals. What would be the best type and combination of bulbs to purchase?

Thank you for your help!
Randy & Deanne

 

[LakeEd]

Randy & Deanne,

1st... WELCOME TO REEF FRONTIERS!!!

To make a better suggestion as to what lighting... we will need a little more information about what type of a tank you wish to setup.

If you are wanting a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock), you have more than enough light with your current setup.

If you are wanting mainly a Fish tank... with some soft corals like Shrooms... this lighting will most likely do fine as well. You might even be able to place some LPS corals like frogspan up higher in the tank also.

If you are wanting more LPS corals, and anemone's... you will most likely want to upgrade your lights to something with more "punch"... like T-5 lighting or MH lighting.

Let us know how you see your tank looking in about a year, as far as corals, and I'm sure people will jump in here giving you some good suggestions on your lights.

One last thought... with bulbs as old as you currently have, a Fish Only environment is about all they are going to be good for. They may also cause a little more algae due to their color spectrum bring shifted.

 

[NC2WA]

Randy & Deanne,,

The only other thing I can add to Lake Ed's reply is if you want to do SPS or clams, you definitely need MH lighting. The rule of thumb is to replace all bulbs every 12 months.

Kirk

 

[angelfish]

MH with the combination of t5HO is the best choice

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF if I haven't welcomed you already I think Ed hit the nail right on top of the head! Your lighting will be fine for certain corals and fish, but where more light demanding corals are concerned, you will need to upgrade your lighting system especially with a tank that high. Let us know your plans so we can steer you in the right direction

 

[Quigley]

Thanks everyone for your help!

We would like our tank to be roughly 80% corals and other reef related marine life, and 20% smaller reef-friendly fish.

We would like the lighting to allow us to grow the widest possible range of corals and other reef-related marine life. We would like to grow colorful corals. And, we would like the lighting to appear natural in color.

With the used tank we inherited; two angles, a trigger, a pair of clowns, a tang, and two anemones. In moving towards a reef tank we would like to keep the pair of clowns and two anemones (although we heard sea anemones eat coral - so they may need to go). For the other fish we hope to find a new home.

I’m also concerned that our reef lighting not over heat the water. As it is now, the existing 6 - 65 watt PC lights keep the water warm enough that the heater seldom if ever turns on.

Thanks everyone for your help!

Randy & Deanne

 

[Krish]

Well, seeing your tank is 27 inches high and you'd like a wide variety of corals (not being limited in any way) I'd personally go for metal halides and call it a day. That way you can support whatever you want in your tank

 

[Quigley]

Thanks for your reply!

Is it best to combine MH with PC/VHO/T5 bulbs? Or, is MH by it'self OK?

Randy & Deanne

 

[LakeEd]

I would also agree with Kirsh... that for your planned tank MH would be the best way to go.

Personally, I like the "Kick" my VHO bulbs add, ALONG WITH my MH. I use the MH bulbs for the actually light power of them... and then my VHO bulbs (Actinic's) for the added punch they seem to give the greens & blues in my tank. I also use my VHO bulbs for a dusk-dawn type effect... by having them turn on/off 1 hour earlier/later than my MH.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Thanks for your reply!

Is it best to combine MH with PC/VHO/T5 bulbs? Or, is MH by it'self OK?

Randy & Deanne

That is two questions. Yes it is best and I personally prefer the VHO/MH combo, but MH is also OK by itself. Be sure to get the best wattage MH for your tank size. 2 each 250 watt units should do fine. If you can keep one or both the PC lights (out of the halide's way), would be optimum

 

[Reefdaddy1]

I have to agree with Ed and Mike on this. MH with VHO would suit all your needs. With tank that deep though 400 watt maybe something to look at or DE bulbs. 250 watt HQI DE would probably be best for this. JMHO

 

[Quigley]

Thanks everyone for your help!

Another question:
How important is it to center the lighting over the top of the tank?

I can't find a MH + VHO light fixture that will fit our tank without seriously modifying the canopy. A "Plan B" would be to add MH along side our existing PC fixture, but to do so would place both fixtures well off center (one forward and one back). How important is it to have the lighting centered over the top of the tank?

Thank you for your help,
Randy & Deanne

 

[Krish]

I think as much as possible you would want to center the lighting over the tank to get an even spread of light throughout the tank and not waste any of it. Also, you don't want to mount a metal halide bulb too close to a pc bulb! The heat from the MH bulb would destroy it so keep that in mind. Any way to post a pic of your canopy so we can see what you are working with? I'm sure we can figure out a way to get it all in there in the proper position. Here is an example of a pendant some people use when they want to use halides and pc's in the same fixture

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...uct_Code=ICE-150PENPLUS&Category_Code=Icecapr

 

[Quigley]

Here are some pictures I hope will help to show our current setup.

The challenges that we have in finding a replacement MH + VHO/T5/PC light are; the fans on the light need to vent upwards. And, there is limited space between the top of the tank and the underside of the canopy.

Thanks everyone for your help! We appreciate everyone's input and suggestions.

Randy & Deanne

 

[Krish]

Yeah...It is kinda crammed under there. Is re-building the canopy an option to suit your needs better and give you more options on lighting or do you want to work with what you have?

Nice tank BTW

 

[Quigley]

Thank You!

I want to do the lights right the first time. So if doing so means rebuilding the canopy, then Yes that is an option. I have some experience with wood working and the needed tools.

I've done a ton of reading on lights..... but reading an experience are two different things.

Any and all help is appreciated in selecting good lights!

Randy & Deanne

 

[Krish]

Cool! Well then, I'd find the fixture or whichever lighting kit you'd like to go with and build your canopy around that. There are tons of ways of going about building a canopy and venting it. I saw where you posted you can't find a MH + VHO fixture that would fit in your canopy, but did that mean you found one that you really liked, but just wouldn't work under your canopy? If so, which one were you interested in? Where any equipment is concerned, you want to build your system around that and not compromise when it can be avoided. I was in the same boat as you and wanted MH's and so I had to re-build my canopy so that I could use the lighting I wanted, and not go with something else just because I didn't have the space and I was happy I did the re-build

 

[Quigley]

With everyone's help we've learned and worked through the following;

"Plan-A" - re-bulb our existing 6-65 watt Coralife PC lights,
CONS: can't grow hard corals, clams, etc.

"Plan B" - find a MH/Fluorescent that would easily replace our existing PC's,
CONS: I found only one; the 48" Coralife Aqualight Pro w/2-250 MH's and 4 - 65 watt PC's, a perfect fit. BUT, no one has commented favorable regarding the Coralife light products.

"Plan C" - add a MH along side one of our existing PC's.
CONS: neither light would be centered over our tank, causing poor overall lighting.

Now we are to "Plan D" - purchase a quality replacement(s) MH/VHO, MH/PC, or MH/T5 and modify our canopy to accommodate the light. Most have recommended MH/VHO with electronic ballast.

I have 3 questions I need help with.

1- Who makes a good quality MH/Fluorescent light?
This is something I think only people with experience can tell me. PFO lights have been recommended twice, but they are 50" long and would overhang our 48" tank. What about Hamilton, AquaMedic, Outer Orbit, and others?

2- How do I minimize the heat generated from the MH's from raising our tank temperature?
I un-plugged our tank heater and learned our existing 6 -65 watt PC's running 12 hours a day provide all the heat needed to keep our tank at the desired temp. I need to minimize the MH's from raising the tank temp.

3- Do pendent lights offer more lighting flexibility and manage heat exhaust better than a straight across the top 48" MH/VHO light?

Again, Thank You for your Help!
We sincerely appreciate all the help everyone had provided!

Randy & Deanne

 

[Krish]

1- Who makes a good quality MH/Fluorescent light?
This is something I think only people with experience can tell me. PFO lights have been recommended twice, but they are 50" long and would overhang our 48" tank. What about Hamilton, AquaMedic, Outer Orbit, and others?

Well you know, you could go with 2 pendants to give you more options unless you are set on a single 48inch fixture. Lots of people will run 2 pendants over their 48 inch long tank and it will provide full coverage. Here's a little write up about MH's from a sponsors website...

Metal Halide: This is your most powerful form of lighting. A halide bulb creates an arc of light so bright that it can spread up to a 36" wide tank. It's the closest form of lighting compared to the sun. You can use halide for soft corals, lps, sps and clams. The most common use is for those wanting more sps and clams. Some guidelines are 1 halide bulb for every 2 feet of tank, up to 3 feet. 175watt up to 24" deep, 250watt up to 36" deep, 400watt for deeper tanks. It's very common for hard core reefers to use 400watt on even a small 30 gallon tank. When it comes to sps and clams, they can handle and thrive under intense lighting. With halide, you also need to consider the Kelvin, which is the color temp. 5500K warm white, 6500K warm white, 10K Crisp white to blue tint, 12K-20K blue tint. For mixed reefs, we recommend the 10K bulbs, for sps and clams, we recommend the 65K's. If you go 55-65K, we highly recommend VHO or PC actinics, they will improve the overall color and look of the tank.

The hamiltons you mentioned I've heard good things about, and I have used PFO and Ice Cap are great as well! Here's a pic of my old 75gal when I ran dual 250w PFO MH retro kit to give you a few ideas. Quite enough light and I was using 20K XM bulbs to give it a more blue spectrum so I didn't need to use supplemental lighting









Here's my canopy I used and how I set up the fans. 3 sucking out hot air out of the tiop and 2 blowing cool air across the tank.

2- How do I minimize the heat generated from the MH's from raising our tank temperature?
I un-plugged our tank heater and learned our existing 6 -65 watt PC's running 12 hours a day provide all the heat needed to keep our tank at the desired temp. I need to minimize the MH's from raising the tank temp.

You can use fans like I did in the pics above for starters and then there is always a chiller which will really give you peace of mind if it is in your budget.

3- Do pendent lights offer more lighting flexibility and manage heat exhaust better than a straight across the top 48" MH/VHO light

I think pendants offer you the most flexibilty which is why I've always tried to use them. You don't even need a canopy to use them and can hang them from your roof or brackets with a chain.

How about this...I'll start a new thread for you asking mebers to post pics and info of their lighting and I'll post a link here to it for you. That way you can get some ideas what people are using and how they went about mounting pendants etc.

 

[Krish]

Here's the thread. You can follow along this one for the pics. Hopefully we get some participation


http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=226394#post226394