65 gallon lighting

[Grandfinale03]

Hey whats the best lighting setup for a 65 gallon reef and fish tank? I eventually want to get clams. Would a 400 watt metal halide be too powerful? id run it maybe 4 or 6 hours, then the power compacts the rest of the time that the lights would be on. Any suggestions or opinions would be appreciated!

 

[Blown 346]

I would probably go with a 250 watt halide, the 400 watt halides get hot and are for deper tanks unless you have really light demanding corals.

 

[Don Berry]

I'd go with 2x250's if you want a SPS & Clam dominated tank. If you are looking more toward LPS and Softies, and Clams I would go with 2X175 or 2x150.

 

[mcox33]

I put 400 watts on my 90 gallon I think they are about the same dept as the 65 just longer. go with the 400watters

 

[Matt Rise]

I ran two 175w 10,000k MH on my 46 bow. They were on for 10 hrs a day, I had quite a collection of clams and corals. Everyone thought that was a crazy amount of wattage, but the tank was happy!

 

[LazyK]

I have been running VHO over my 65 for six years. I have SPS and a clam and everything grows great. I have a Favites sp. on the bottom with no problems. But! I have noticed that SPS more than 12" deep tend to fade to orange or dark purple, sooo..... I have built a new hood and tomorrow will install 2x250w MH in addition to my 380w VHO. Talk about crazy wattage. That is 13.5watt/gal. I also run a Wave2k and get glitter lines with the VHO due to high water movement. I can't wait to see it with the halides running. The whole room will sparkle.

 

[Grandfinale03]

Does anybody know of an already-made hood or fixture that accomadates (2) 175 watt metal halides? Or would one 250 watt halide be good enough? I just want a clam or 2. NMot a whole clam tank

 

[gobygoby]

I had a 400 watter over my old 65, worked out great! except for the support brace made it cast a shadow, but other then that I loved it

 

[bruffin]

Hello Danny. . . If you are talking about the 36x18x24 - 65 gal. then you only need one metal halide. A 400watt lamp would be a lot of overkill if you only want to keep a couple of clams. Go with one 250watt metal halide and supplement that with Actinics. That'll be plenty of light to keep just about anything, but the sps may have to be positioned closer to the top. A good rule is: One metal halide per 36in. in width / and 250watts if over 24in. in depth . . .

www.marinedepot.com has the ready made fixtures you asked about. . .

 

[gobygoby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6490586#post6490586 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bruffin
A good rule is: One metal halide per 36in. in width / and 250watts if over 24in. in depth . . .

I would disagree with that statement. ("One metal halide per 36in. in width") that applies more to the design of the reflector then the wattageor distance. and honestly you really cant have enough light. I have a 400 watt DE over a 14" tall tank.

Goby

 

[Blown 346]

I usually go by for every two feet there should be a halide. The 400 watt would work but heat could be an issue. Like said above with the 250 watt halide and some actinics you wil have enough light to have what ever you want.

 

[ga_reefer_guy]

What about 6 36" T5's wouldn't that work for a 65 also?

 

[Grandfinale03]

ok So if i do a 250 watt metal halide, some actinic lights, should i keep all of the lights on 10 hours? Ive never worked with metal halides before.

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6490460#post6490460 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Grandfinale03
Does anybody know of an already-made hood or fixture that accomadates (2) 175 watt metal halides? Or would one 250 watt halide be good enough? I just want a clam or 2. NMot a whole clam tank

I have one over my 58 (36" long) I got it from Hamilton Tech. It has 2 *175 MH plus 2 * 96 PC. It is more than enough light. Here is a picture of the hood. (BTW -- The MH are XM 10K )

I have serveral SPS frags and I clam on the sandbed. I think have 2 MH instead of just one looks alot better, no dark spots in the corners.
I will try and take a full tank shot and one of the clam tonight. But, here is a frag from that tank.

 

[Blown 346]

If the tank already as corals you are goping to have to slowly adjust them to the new light. You would have to start out say at 2 hours a day, and every day after the first day add 30 minutes to the lighting time, until you reach your full lighting schedule.

If it is being newly setup and you are cycling the tank I would keep the halides off until after the cycle. With them on you will only increase the amount of algae you are going to have.
Once you start adding corals the lighting time all depends on how long you wan them on for. No less than 8 hours a day and no more than 12.

 

[michaeldaly]

I use 2 150W MH to light my 65 G (48 x18 x 18)
I think they give more that enough light, and the very high light corals you can always place higher up in the tank.

 

[JER-Z]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6490919#post6490919 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ga_reefer_guy
What about 6 36" T5's wouldn't that work for a 65 also?

thats what i am putting on the 65g that i am setting up....i will be overdriving them w/ an Icecap 660 to help reach the bottom of the 24" tall tank....

 

[werew]

1 metal halide every 2 feet is what most have recommended for MH.

Regarding 250w MH:
A 65 gallon tank is 24" tall, subtract the sandbed's depth and usually you get a 18-22" water column depth.

This said, the 250watt's are probably going to be a good maximum MH light for you. 250w MH is for "water columns" greater than 24" deep, up to +30" (again, it's what most have recommended).

I'm no MH expert, but a 400w MH for a 24" tall tank! :eek2: I guess to each their own, whatever works for you and your tank.

My 65 gal Megaflow tank has been up and running for 2 months now using 288watts of PC lighting and i'm upgrading to (2) 175watt MH 10k's and am supplementing with T5 aquablues. I am going with 2 MH's because I don't want the centerbrace shadow. I also figure that I can arrange the 2 MH's focal points to overlap, giving extra PAR in the center area of the tank for clams and strong light SPS's if it's really needed.

If you use a single MH over a 36" long tank... in order for the reflector to provide adequate coverage over the entire length of the tank... wouldn't you have to raise it 2-3 inches higher than usual? Thus taking some of the "oomph" out of the PAR?

 

[michaeldaly]

Not all 65G are 24" tall mine is only 18inch tall

 

[Grandfinale03]

My 65 gallon is 36" long. So (2) 175 watt metal halides would do the job? I dont think the shadow would look good at all!