looking for opinions on lighting a deep tank

[Workaholic]

Ok so I have a 72 Hex that I'm going to setup over the next couple months for a reef. I called hellolights.com and from that conversation I'm thinking of starting with their basic 250w HQI halide using a 12k reeflux bulb with supplemented actinic . I know the halide will work well, the only thing i'm concerned about is getting the penetration with a hex tank that stands 30" tall. To give you a better idea of what kind of a shape this tank is its 25" front to back on a flat side then point to point from left to right its 28" and it stands right about 30" tall with 14" flat sides.

The other issue that I see is getting good actinic supplemented in there. I would like to run 24w t5's but I see it being pretty tough to get a 24" long bulb to fit with that footprint.

My plans for inhabitants are going to be mainly lps, zoas, palys, clams with SOME SPS. I say some because it will probably be limited to things like monti caps, digitata, birdsnest things like that. The showpiece of the tank being my elegance coral which loves as much light as it can get which was the main reason for my concern about penetration due to that it will be in the sandbed.

What do you all think?

Tom

 

[roscoe]

It all depends on what you are planning to put in the tank my man. I think you can get away with LPS on the floor and some deep water SPS in the lower to mid half and alll your high light demanding corals on the top 3rd of the tank. You figure out a theme for your tank? What species of corals? It helps out if you can narrow down to what type of corals you want to keep. That is where I would start and then build your equipment around that principle. I my self will only have LPS and SPS. I am glad I had the experiment with the 40b. It gave me alot of insight on where and what type and how to place corals. For instance In the Big tank all my Encrusting montis will be on a removeable plate or upside down bowl shape like rock so that way I can easily control and alter its growth to be the shape I want it to be/stay by fragging it once it starts to outgrow the area where I want it to be. Same thing with Acans and Chalices.

 

[roscoe]

LOL looks like I took to long to write that :lol:

 

[returnofsid]

I totally agree!! People will tell you that you need 400 watts to penetrate deep, but who says you have to put the high light demanding species deep? Keep in mind, though, Montipora cap, in that type of tank, will shade out a lot of inhabitants below it, unless you really keep it trimmed back.

 

[Workaholic]

It all depends on what you are planning to put in the tank my man. I think you can get away with LPS on the floor and some deep water SPS in the lower to mid half and alll your high light demanding corals on the top 3rd of the tank. You figure out a theme for your tank? What species of corals? It helps out if you can narrow down to what type of corals you want to keep. That is where I would start and then build your equipment around that principle. I my self will only have LPS and SPS. I am glad I had the experiment with the 40b. It gave me alot of insight on where and what type and how to place corals. For instance In the Big tank all my Encrusting montis will be on a removeable plate or upside down bowl shape like rock so that way I can easily control and alter its growth to be the shape I want it to be/stay by fragging it once it starts to outgrow the area where I want it to be. Same thing with Acans and Chalices.

I'm really curious how you are going to control the grow of those encrusting corals. Do you plan to do a write up about it as I would like to have a few acans some favia brains in my tank.

What do you all think about actinics? I currnetly have a 4x65w pc setup that I could mod to work with this tank but I still run into a space problem with the bulbs still being 21" long. After looking at hellolights.com some more they have 28w PC's that are 12.5" long which would allow me to fit 4-6 of them over the top of the tank right on the sides of the tank. I will have to try and find out if my 4x65w hamilton ballast will run 28w pc's. If so then I could use that ballast and just get new bulbs and reflectors and save a bit of $$.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Scooterman]

I'd probably try a single 250W mh in there using a reflux 12K with a Mini luminarc III reflector & from there retro as many T5s with individual reflectors as you can.
JMO

 

[Workaholic]

I'd probably try a single 250W mh in there using a reflux 12K with a Mini luminarc III reflector & from there retro as many T5s with individual reflectors as you can.
JMO

That would be great if all that would fit but it wont.

Tom

 

[Scooterman]

That would be great if all that would fit but it wont.

Tom

Then buy an outer Orbit all in one unit 24" unit should sit on top of the tank they have some leeway or they can be hung. I used the 24" hqi model with RF12K's 250W & 4 individualized T5's built in fans & moon lights. One thing I did was replace the MH because I got the 10K & it was too yellowish. Check to see if it will fit your tank closely, other than that I really like this light.

http://www.marineandreef.com/Outer_Orbit_24_inch_250W_Current_USA_p/rcu01075.htm

 

[roscoe]

I say cut a hole on top of your canopy for a Lumenarc Mini which is 14.5''x14.5'' and flush mount on top of the canopy and mount your 4 24''T-5's in a squared patern under the canopy. I think that would work. If i understand your tank dimensions right. You say you have a 28''x25'' area to work with right?

 

[Workaholic]

I say cut a hole on top of your canopy for a Lumenarc Mini which is 14.5''x14.5'' and flush mount on top of the canopy and mount your 4 24''T-5's in a squared patern under the canopy. I think that would work. If i understand your tank dimensions right. You say you have a 28''x25'' area to work with right?

I haven't built the canopy yet. But with that idea I bet it could work.

Yes the area is 28" from left to right at the points and 25" on flat sides from front to back and each flat side is 14" long. I'll have to do some measurements and see how it will work. I have to get all moved first though then I really get to start crackin on this project. I wouldn't be able to do a square pattern though with the t5's due to it being a hex. Those dimensions are at the largest points. I would be able to do them parallel 2 on each side of the lumenarc. I'll sketch up what the tank looks like latter on tonight.

tom