alpinestar
New member
Tank will be 48x48x10 plan for acro monti clams just basically all sps. What are my best lighting options keeping economical in cost of Retro or prefab fixture.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
best lighting for sps dominated shallow reef
- Thread starter alpinestar
- Start date
tang daddy
New member
I would usually say led, but a 4x4ft tank that is only 10" deep, maybe t5 is your best and most cost effective option....
fcmatt
Member
I think it would be silly to put a hood over the tank in any shape or form. You
want something nice looking above it. Basically a clean thin light that covers
a lot. So in my mind you might as well forget about MH. That leaves T5 and LED.
There is very little about LED that is economical right now unless you want to
buy some chinese made fixture. Forget about AI or Ecotech. $$$ there.
Your biggest hurdle will be the width of that tank! How to cover such a width?
Would you leave the back a bit darker perhaps?
I would probably try to find some used ATI fixtures that are 48 inches long.
Maybe a couple of 6 to 8 bulb fixtures and place them strategically above the
tank to light the sections that matter most to you.
The more I think about this the more I realize that a minimum of 1500 dollars
to make something that looks nice enough to be in a living room. If in a basement...
well you have cheaper options.
What is economical to you price wise? How good does it have to look? You
must realize the tank shape you bought is a pain in the rear to light.
MammothReefer
Active member
Economically, Search the used section on this forum. With a lot of people moving to LED. You can get some amazing deals on halide setups. Top of the line halides are selling for pennies on the dollar these days. You can probably find some large luminarc refelctors, with ballasts. Might even be able to get away with 2 full size luminarcs with 250w SE Radiums. I got the same setup for 300$ w/bulbs & ballasts (but the minis instead as my tank is a little smaller)
fcmatt
Member
Well, your post above surely increases your post count but fails to help the
OP.
How would you economically light a 4feet by 4feet shallow tank?
If LED lights like AI are supposed to cover 2x2 it would take 4 of them to cover
the tank nicely!!! That is like 600 dollars times 4. Plus I have no idea how
the dead center would look considering it might be the lowest par of all the
areas except the edges...
MH, even with great reflectors, assuming a 250watt bulb, would also require
4 of them unless you raised them up so high you have light spilling all over
the place.
Basically having to buy 4 fixtures really really sucks.
T5 seems to be the most reasonable choice for coverage, allowing the light
to be closer to the water for less light leakage, and keeping the costs down
if you plan to buy brand new considering two fixtures might do the job. Used
would save another easy 25-35% percent.
fcmatt
Member
The problem with those reflectors is that they are, in my humble opinion, designed
to go in a hood. Something to cover up the eye sore they represent.
Big LOL below. Why even bother with such a ghetto setup? And that is what you have
to deal with if you do not have a hood to hide the things. Me? On a shallow tank I definitely
want the ability to raise up my ATI light, turn down the powerheads, and get a great view looking
down into the tank from the top. Definitely.
I would think t-5's would be your best bet although LED's and MH would both work, you are going to have to raise them up 4ft off of your tank or you will probably fry everything you put in it and to get the spread. I vote for T-5's, and there is alot of different varities and bulbs so you can get the color that you are looking for. Good luck and you should post up some pictures of this tank that is a crazy footprint although it will be hard when somthing in the middle of the tank gets knocked over to set it back up or to frag somthing from the middle of the tank ;-(
alpinestar
New member
Sorry just realized I said reef tank I meant to say only coral tank no live rock couple fish and loads of sps clams on sand. So basically a 4x4x10 Frag tank. Tanks are being made now I'm just trying to figure out lighting
Just as an FYI AI dropped the price of their fixtures to $400 a module. Still expensive IMO.
Chris Lakies
Active member
Probably 2 x 250 watt pendants with really good reflectors may cover the spread if they are raised up high enough. With a 10" deep tank it wouldnt take a whole lot. The biggest problem is the spread of light.
Or a 48" 8x54watt ati sunpower.
Or a 48" 8x54watt ati sunpower.
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tang daddy
New member
As I said before, t5 is the way to go. If I was doing this I would build a canopy out of wood that floated over the tank about 6-8".
I would use single t5 fixtures like the ones you find in horticulture store, I believe they're called sunblaster, you would need 8 depending on how you space it. So 8 fixtures about 4" apart, you could use reflectors but I think it's not needed on such a shallow tank. The nice thing about those individual units is you can use 1 powercord and daisy link them all up together. Generally $30 per fixture x 8 is $240, you will also need 8 bulbs which will run you about $220 then the wood and suspension cables another $100 so for about $550 you have a custom fixture.
Good luck!
I would use single t5 fixtures like the ones you find in horticulture store, I believe they're called sunblaster, you would need 8 depending on how you space it. So 8 fixtures about 4" apart, you could use reflectors but I think it's not needed on such a shallow tank. The nice thing about those individual units is you can use 1 powercord and daisy link them all up together. Generally $30 per fixture x 8 is $240, you will also need 8 bulbs which will run you about $220 then the wood and suspension cables another $100 so for about $550 you have a custom fixture.
Good luck!
I'm gonna have to say that that I disagree. T5's might be the best option to light that footprint, but keep in mind this tank is only 10" deep. There is no way you are going to be able to see half of what is in it with a canopy 6-8" over the tank. IMO the lighting is going to depend on how the OP wants to view the tank, I'm assuming that it is going to be view top down as with a tank this shallow I don't see many other option. So that being said I think the only option are going to be high powered halides (maybe a single 1000W or 400w 10K MIGHT work) or LEDs. A custom LED fixture could be made with narrow optics that would allow the lights to be high enough off the water with minimal losses in efficiency. A third option I just thought of would be daylight, maybe using a solar tube etc.
Unfortunately I don't think there is going to be a cheap option, this is a unusual configuration so there are not going to be many off the self option that will work for you.
Of course all of this is my opinion so take what you want from it.
MammothReefer
Active member
The problem with those reflectors is that they are, in my humble opinion, designed
to go in a hood. Something to cover up the eye sore they represent.
Big LOL below. Why even bother with such a ghetto setup? And that is what you have
to deal with if you do not have a hood to hide the things. Me? On a shallow tank I definitely
want the ability to raise up my ATI light, turn down the powerheads, and get a great view looking
down into the tank from the top. Definitely.
.. make a false canopy. This is my old 500g before I trimmed it. You can also float the false canopy which is what I'm going to do with my current setup (using 2 luminarcs) since I have a rimless tank now..
(Floated canopy not mine)
PVC... .. how can you knock a lighting system cause some guy used PVC to mount it.. that's not the reflectors fault.
(also to note, that's 2 luminarcs covering a 5x3x2 tank..) 4x4x10".. ya not an issue w/2.
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kaserpick
Keeping it Simple
The problem with those reflectors is that they are, in my humble opinion, designed
to go in a hood. Something to cover up the eye sore they represent.
Big LOL below. Why even bother with such a ghetto setup? And that is what you have
to deal with if you do not have a hood to hide the things. Me? On a shallow tank I definitely
want the ability to raise up my ATI light, turn down the powerheads, and get a great view looking
down into the tank from the top. Definitely.
As it's been mentioned already, I don't think we've given metal halides a fair shake. While they're not efficient on the energy bill, they could a great option for this tank.
Coralvue makes a great pendant that's pretty stylish. You're picture of a bare reflector hung on a PVC frame is probably the worst example of a sleek metal halide pendant.
Here's a better example:
I didn't hide the wires as well as I could have, but I liked the look when I had this tank.
Also, if you really want to be able to view top down, then metal halides would be a good choice. Since the tank's only 10" tall, you could have the pendants very high at all times with good light penetration. This would allow you top down viewing access at all times, and if they're high enough you won't catch the light's reflection at a good angle.
Again, 4 250w halides would not be cost effective on the energy bill, but arguing against them because they're not sleek is not a very good point.
MammothReefer
Active member
my photo vanished.. repost of my false canopy before I put trim on it. When you were standing you couldn't even really see the tips of the pendants.
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