Reason I ask is I am planning an in wall 475 g in my new house and have most of my equipment list worked out- but have been struggling with the lighting decision. Back in the day I ran MH with VHO (I did say back in the day :fun4: ) I have learned LEDs have come a looong way, but i have just about decided to go with 4-400W MHs with supplemental T5. It sounds good and I know of plenty of folks that have very successful tanks with these. I know eleftrical will be more but I am not real good with "tech" and LEDs don't seem to be dummy friendly.
1000 Gallon System...The long road is almost over
- Thread starter Mr J&J
- Start date
If the MH didn't kill my electric bill, I'd run them. They are very inexpensive now. I AM tech savvy so the LED's work well for me...plus I'm not going with incredibly difficult corals so they'll be fine.
BigBlueTang
Active member
McPuff
New member
With a tank this size you may actually be better off going with MH. You'd probably want 4-6 x 400W I'm guessing and some nice reflectors. You could buy LEDs but you'd need probably 8-10 fixtures I'm guessing... and then you're looking at at least a few $k just for lighting. Then if you consider electrical consumption you'd have 800-1600W of lighting (probably closer to the upper end). Compare that to 1600-2400 for MH and it may not be much of a savings. And the initial cost of LED is going to be much higher. Lots of advantages to go with LED but depending on what you want to put in your tank (corals) it may not be an advantage in the end. Another thing to consider is the space available above the tank. The LEDs are going to take up far less space and also create far less heat. I really think this one is just a judgement call for you.
Quick update...Tank is cycled and I started to move the fish over. Sadly my prized tang didn't make it 
Too much stress doing the TTM. He was my favorite fish. Anyway, the rest got moved over and seem to be doing great. Still debating the lighting situation and we will be starting the cabinetry soon.
Too much stress doing the TTM. He was my favorite fish. Anyway, the rest got moved over and seem to be doing great. Still debating the lighting situation and we will be starting the cabinetry soon.
Looks like I've been a little tardy in posting 
Well yes...there's an update. The tank cycled nicely, although a little long. I then moved over all of my existing fish. I lost my one prize Tang in the move...I did something dumb and he didn't make it. All others did great. I then started to add new fish...everyone was happy. Then I added some fish from a local store. I made a HUGE mistake and didn't QT them b/ he had them qt'ed for a month plus...I think we all know what happened next don't we. We've all seen this play many times before... About a week later, a disease hit the tank. This wasn't your normal ich strain however. I think it was black ich. It moved fast. First killing all the new fish, then going after my prized pets, many of whom I had for years. It was ugly...one after another dead. A week later, they were all gone. In the end, I probably lost about $10K in fish. This was devastating. I really had no desire to even continue. I decided that I would just run the tank fallow for a while and I dropped the SG to 1.08. I needed to think what to do next. Then a minor miracle happened...a few weeks after starting the low SG, my little red hawk popped out of the rock work. He always was a little sh*t. 3" long and wasn't afraid of anyone. We now call him the Lone Survior. Then things got even weirder. A month in, my fox face showed up from the rocks as well!!!!! We didn't name him...lol. Anyway, I decided to break all kinds of rules and run the tank at about 1.07 for 12 weeks...figuring neither guy would make it...but they both did. That was months ago. Tank is back up running strong. I've since slowly added some fish...all going through a rigorous QT. I put a few pieces of coral in as well.
I'm now excited about my tank again and am going to finally have the facade built and finish the outside of the tank. I'll try to get some updates in as that moves along.
Well yes...there's an update. The tank cycled nicely, although a little long. I then moved over all of my existing fish. I lost my one prize Tang in the move...I did something dumb and he didn't make it. All others did great. I then started to add new fish...everyone was happy. Then I added some fish from a local store. I made a HUGE mistake and didn't QT them b/ he had them qt'ed for a month plus...I think we all know what happened next don't we. We've all seen this play many times before... About a week later, a disease hit the tank. This wasn't your normal ich strain however. I think it was black ich. It moved fast. First killing all the new fish, then going after my prized pets, many of whom I had for years. It was ugly...one after another dead. A week later, they were all gone. In the end, I probably lost about $10K in fish. This was devastating. I really had no desire to even continue. I decided that I would just run the tank fallow for a while and I dropped the SG to 1.08. I needed to think what to do next. Then a minor miracle happened...a few weeks after starting the low SG, my little red hawk popped out of the rock work. He always was a little sh*t. 3" long and wasn't afraid of anyone. We now call him the Lone Survior. Then things got even weirder. A month in, my fox face showed up from the rocks as well!!!!! We didn't name him...lol. Anyway, I decided to break all kinds of rules and run the tank at about 1.07 for 12 weeks...figuring neither guy would make it...but they both did. That was months ago. Tank is back up running strong. I've since slowly added some fish...all going through a rigorous QT. I put a few pieces of coral in as well.
I'm now excited about my tank again and am going to finally have the facade built and finish the outside of the tank. I'll try to get some updates in as that moves along.
Looks like I've been a little tardy in posting
Well yes...there's an update. The tank cycled nicely, although a little long. I then moved over all of my existing fish. I lost my one prize Tang in the move...I did something dumb and he didn't make it. All others did great. I then started to add new fish...everyone was happy. Then I added some fish from a local store. I made a HUGE mistake and didn't QT them b/ he had them qt'ed for a month plus...I think we all know what happened next don't we. We've all seen this play many times before... About a week later, a disease hit the tank. This wasn't your normal ich strain however. I think it was black ich. It moved fast. First killing all the new fish, then going after my prized pets, many of whom I had for years. It was ugly...one after another dead. A week later, they were all gone. In the end, I probably lost about $10K in fish. This was devastating. I really had no desire to even continue. I decided that I would just run the tank fallow for a while and I dropped the SG to 1.08. I needed to think what to do next. Then a minor miracle happened...a few weeks after starting the low SG, my little red hawk popped out of the rock work. He always was a little sh*t. 3" long and wasn't afraid of anyone. We now call him the Lone Survior. Then things got even weirder. A month in, my fox face showed up from the rocks as well!!!!! We didn't name him...lol. Anyway, I decided to break all kinds of rules and run the tank at about 1.07 for 12 weeks...figuring neither guy would make it...but they both did. That was months ago. Tank is back up running strong. I've since slowly added some fish...all going through a rigorous QT. I put a few pieces of coral in as well.
I'm now excited about my tank again and am going to finally have the facade built and finish the outside of the tank. I'll try to get some updates in as that moves along.
So sorry you had to go through that. You got two miracle Fish in your tank though. Got a pic of the survivors?
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