6 bulb tek over an 18" tall tank (50g, 38g, etc), any experiences?

[nemo g]

due to space restraints, i may have to go with the shorter 50g instead of the 65g.

just want to know what kind of success people have had with 6 bulbs over a 18" tall tank. anyone with clams? how are those sps?

please keep the responses specific to the post: 6 bulb tek and 18" tall tanks. ive read enough posts about different lighting schemes, and about water quality etc.

nG

 

[clkwrk]

with great water quality you should have no problems

 

[Jocko]

I have a 6x24w over a 20H which is 18" deep. It will fry all but the most light loving of corals at the top of the rocks.

 

[nemo g]

i was thinking of creating an open top canopy that would be all but a frame with removable side and front panels that would have a beam going across the top where the tek could be suspended.

i figure in this manner i would be ...

- eliminating light spill

- maintain adequate ventilation

- easy tank access

- allow for easy raising and lowering of light to suit fauna


this way i can start out with the light high and the more i need the light, aka go with more sps, i could lower the light where needed.

i would prefer to have more light that i can control (via photo periods and height) than to wish i had it later on. having more bulbs also allows for more flexibilty in creating the color output of the light and the visible color of the fauna.

 

[Wiskey]

I have a 50 Gallon and a Lux meater. The tank measures 48*12-18 tall, (I know the demention sucks) but I use the Reef Geek 4*54 W Tek retro. I get over 10,000 Lux at the tank's bottom.

Whiskey

 

[Odin1]

On a 18" tall tank all you should need is the 4bulb tek.

 

[DitchPlains2]

6 bulb, hehe how about 8 bulb?

6 bulb, hehe how about 8 bulb?

NemoG, my camera afficionado friend, I would run the 8 bulb, and get the most bang for your buck out of that type of system. I run it on a 24' tall tank, but I run the bulbs less then 2 inches from the surface. I would say you could run the tek fixture about 6 inches above the water, avoid the salt creep problems and have great coloration growth rates.

just my two cents, but either 6 or 8 would be best for sps, 4 bulbs for sps is a no go.

David

 

[dvanacker]

Bulb coverage depends on tank width. I run 4 on my 55 gallon cause its only 12" wide.....I couldnt fit 6 in there if I tried. This is plenty for SPS on my tank.

My vote go with 6...you wont be dissappointed.

 

[nemo g]

dv,

actually, you could "fit" the 6 bulb tek over a 55g. althouth the fixture is 15" and the tank only 13", the actual lighting (reflector area) is about 12" (i measured a tek reflector in my maristar at 1 3/4", so 6 = 10.5").

only meant for informational purposes.

ditch, congrats on the world cup win. my team played it safe and played "prevent defense" and took out their stars for the last half of the game.

hmmmm, go with a 75g and get the 8 bulb.... damn, i really wanted to stay at 3' but all that light! woohoo, im a photon junky

 

[dvanacker]

Nemo...that may be true with a TEK but the ICECAP SLR's I use are 2 1/2" wide.

I find 4 bulbs over my width more then enough.

 

[ahchung]

10000 Lux at the bottom of the tank with water?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7758964#post7758964 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wiskey
I have a 50 Gallon and a Lux meater. The tank measures 48*12-18 tall, (I know the demention sucks) but I use the Reef Geek 4*54 W Tek retro. I get over 10,000 Lux at the tank's bottom.

Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7770985#post7770985 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ahchung
10000 Lux at the bottom of the tank with water?

Over 10,000 Lux, 18 inches down, in water ( :lol: ), bulbs 4 inches off the drink. 4*54W Reef Geek Tek 4 bulb retro.

I use 1 - 6,700K, 2 - 11,000K, and 1 - Atinic +

This light reading is comprable to what I was getting with my 2*250W XM 10K in spyder reflectors 8 inches off the tank.

So far it looks like the myth about the bulbs lasting 2 years is just that, A myth. It is looking like I should replace mine every 9 months so far. (I replace at 10% dropoff) I haven't hit the 10% yet, but based on plotting dropoff so far,...

Whiskey

 

[nemo g]

whiskey,

have you taken par readings?

from me research par and lux dont always correlate. sometimes more par and less lux or the converse is true.

have you investigated this?

 

[nine9d]

4 or 6 bulbe should be fine. I have the SLS 6 bulb on my 90. Able to keep clams on the bottom and acro's all around.

 

[neyugn0w01]

I have a 5 bulb 39" T5 overdriven on a 24" tall tank. Everything has been fine for 2 years. Changing the bulbs this friday for the first time. I think if you plan on having LPS, the taller the tank, the better. Good Luck.

 

[Wiskey]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7772923#post7772923 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nemo g
whiskey,

have you taken par readings?

from me research par and lux dont always correlate. sometimes more par and less lux or the converse is true.

have you investigated this?

Ya, I know, I really should have bought a submersible PAR meter, but at the time I didn't know.

LUX = visible light, not all useful for photosynthesis
PAR = photo-synthetically available radiation (or something like that)

From my research I have found that you can get a ruff guess at par by dividing LUX by 71 for florescent tubes, but it's just that, a ruff guess. BTW 74 for halides.

Here is something that might be more usefully:

My tank W/ 2 XM 10K in Spider reflectors 6 inches off the water:

20 min later with the fluorescents 6 inches of the water.

The T5 hood

A clam just for the heck of it:

HTH,
Whiskey

 

[nemo g]

unfortunately,

unless you dialed in exactly the same exposure for the camera, the photos dont help. but at least its something pretty to look at

if you would like to know how to do this (some cams cant), let me know and ill walk you through it.

 

[Wiskey]

My camera has 4 settings "auto", "night", "Closeup" and, "landscape". Everything else it does itself. Sorry.

Whiskey

 

[Malolo]

I have a 5 bulb t5 fixture with individual reflectors over a 20". Running 2x 11k, 1x 6.5 and 2x Actinic plus 4" above the water. I have measured par values from 200+ in the upper half down to 120 on the bottom. Works well for me.

In your situation I would go with 6. 4 might get er done but 6 will give you more options. 8 bulbs seem like alot , but it would give you a ton of light anywhere you wanted it.

 

[ZURCSREEF]

wisky's pictures actually spotted something on me... I really like the glisering of the mh's coming down on the water, makes it look like the sun shining down on the ocean, but at the same time I like the t-5's as it puts steady light throughout the tank... I have been thinking about converting my 125 sps over to T-5's (I already have ice cap ballasts) but don't want to take a chance and watch my sps turn brown, sorry if I am hijacking this thread... but I wanted to know what everyone thinks is the best T-5 setup... what brand of bulbs, reflectors, ballasts, how many bulbs for a 125g, what do you think about the coloration and growth between the MH vs Halides? Sorry again if I am hijacking, this thread just got me thinking...