lighting- q/a pics please?

[shelbyguy]

so.

brief intro.

we set up 75gal tank month "ish" ago


has some livestock, prolly 70-80lbs of LR


in the future we would like to add some anemones and some carpet thingers.
But everything we find we like needs alot of light so either we buck up and buy
a huge $$ fixture or design and make our own hood.

I was considering
2x MH 150-175 watts (im very open to suggestions)
2-3x T5 55 watt lamps
8-10 leds in a hood

adding 1-2 110v cabinet (cpu fans)

anyone got some pics of set ups you have now or have used in the past?

id like a hood for a cleaner look, but im also open to pendant style units.

thanks in advance

 

[returnofsid]

Hi there and welcome to Reef Frontiers!!

If you're wanting to keep anemones, none of the lighting you've listed will be appropriate.

If you go with MH lighting, you'll need 2X 250MH

If you go T5HO, you'll need 6X54watt T5HO. Which is the perfect fit for an 18" tank.

Either of these options will allow you to grow anything you want.

If you look through my Flickr Account, a link is in my signature, you'll find lots of pictures of our old 75. It was lit by a 6X54 Sunlight Supply Tek5, T5HO fixture. This allowed us to grow anything we wanted, including the highest light demanding SPS.

 

[shelbyguy]

so your advising to use just the 500w MH?

would that possibly boil the corals?

i was under the impression(reading) that i need somewhere around 300-350watts
the 2 175w would get us there

was considering the T5 just for the blue hue they put off as MH usually are very white

and the leds of course for a "night" light

 

[Krish]

Take a browse through here http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/post-pictures-your-stand-canopies-57829/ You should see a picture of my 75gal that had dual 250w metal halides and the canopy it was under. You will have to scroll down a bit to see the inside of that canopy.

Good luck!!

 

[Myteemouse]

MH reflectors wit h2x 54w T-5 actinics in a hood

 

[shelbyguy]

MH reflectors wit h2x 54w T-5 actinics in a hood

you know i went thru every page of that build thread.

im thru tacoma everyday, maybe sometime i can come by to see this in person.

absolutely amazing.

 

[mojoreef]

she;by alot of it has to do with what look you want also. In regards to 250 vs 175 that deals more with photon (light) penetration to where the corals/anen. are sitting. then you have to take the reflectors into play also. A good reflector like the one myteemouse is showing will make a big deifference also. With any MH, heat will always play a role s count on using fans and as posted above.

One of the things that plagues most reefers is underbuying equipment at start up, it suck to have to up grade constantly,

 

[shelbyguy]

this is exatly the idea i was consdiering making.

how much room is between the lamp and the tank?

does the light warm the water too much?

 

[Krish]

this is exatly the idea i was consdiering making.

how much room is between the lamp and the tank?

does the light warm the water too much?

I had to use 5 fans and a chiller The fans kept the tank to the right temp, but the chiller made me feel a bit more comfortable.

 

[shelbyguy]

she;by alot of it has to do with what look you want also. In regards to 250 vs 175 that deals more with photon (light) penetration to where the corals/anen. are sitting. then you have to take the reflectors into play also. A good reflector like the one myteemouse is showing will make a big deifference also. With any MH, heat will always play a role s count on using fans and as posted above.

One of the things that plagues most reefers is underbuying equipment at start up, it suck to have to up grade constantly,

i truly believe in building and buying things ONCE

thats my reasoning for just building one with enough light to do anything we way want to do.

 

[Krish]

Oh, the lights were about 8-10 inches off of the surface.

 

[shelbyguy]

so the chiller wasnt a "need" but apparently it wouldnt hurt to put it in the budget.

 

[Krish]

so the chiller wasnt a "need" but apparently it wouldnt hurt to put it in the budget.

On this setup of mine, not really, but it is good to have. If you look in my canopy, I have 3 fans sucking hot air out of the canopy and 2 fans sucking in cool air from the sides as well as they blow across the surface of the water. In addition to this, I had a fan on my sump. When the lights came on in the day I had a timer turn on all the fans and when the lights went off at night, a timer turned them all off. I did have ALOT more evaporation though so bare that in mind. I liked the idea of having the chiller because I was just barely keeping the temp where I wanted it and needed the extra security if something failed. On another note, equipment will play a vital role as well. I used that same chiller what was on the 75gal with 500w of metal halides on a 38 gal with only 15 watts and the chiller cut in alot more on the smaller tank than it did on the bigger tank. Apparently the pumps I was using for my closed loop was heating up the water a lot! So keep that in mind as well. Also, room temperature will play a vital role as well. I live in the Bahamas where it is warm and so we run central air 24/7 which I think helped me a bit.

 

[Workaholic]

as a comparison, I have a 3' 58g oceanic tank that I have a pair of 250w SE halides in High end reflectors. One big thing to keep in mind though is what you intend on keeping. in my case I keep allot of SPS and thus I needed the intense lighting but even then its in a floating fixture over a foot above my tank with 4 computer fans pulling air out of it. with your tank I honestly think you would be fine a pair of 175SE halides or even 150DE's if you are just wanting to keep anemone's. Carpets you may want to bump up to 250's but i've even seen rose bubble anems kept under intense PC's that do great in the past, not recommended but its been done.

In your case unless you're up for building a canopy yourself and doing all the wiring I'd seriously look into a nice all in one fixture with a pair of 250 halides and a few t5's. There are some really nice ones out there and you can find some great deals on them on one of the several reef forums around. That way you can just buy the fixture once and be able to keep anything you want as any fixture you find that has halides built in will already have fans as well. If it ends up being too much light for your corals you can always just set it up on a hanging kit and raise it up from the tank some. in the long run your life will be much easier just going that route IMHO.