Decisions, Decisions...Help with Lighting

[tenpercenter]

Like many new comers here at ReefCentral I have reached information overload regarding the lighting for the 120 I am planning. It will be a mixed reed initially however long term I assume the SPS bug will bite and I would rather purchase the equipment for it now than do this over again in a year.

I have been leaning in the direction of DE bulbs driven by a hqi ballast. Electricity is cheap here in Florida (compared to CA) and the initial setup cost are really not that much greater.

PFO seems to be a well regarding option in this area but is the cost worth it?

This is something I have been swaying back and forth on. If anyone can just give me a push toward hqi or electronic ballasts and their reasons that would be great.

Ballast aside, assuming I go the DE route I need to get some reflectors picked out. I plan on building my own canopy and have been looking at the lumenarc options for DE bulbs. Seems that reefexotics sells a lumenarc "stealth" reflector. It takes a DE bulb but I questions whether it will supply great coverage on a standard 120 gallon tank. Any experience/advice here would be great.

I kind of feel that these decisions will make my bulb choice a no brainer. Ha Ha. I think I will choose based on PAR from Sanjay's tests as well as any pictures I can get of the bulbs that seem good from the numbers.

I realize this is a hobby full of and based upon opinions. Really that is all I am looking for here; opinions with some experience backing them up. If anyone feels i am on the wrong track for my objectives feel free to chime in as well.

Of course the idea that there are some tests coming up on MH vs. T5 makes this decision that much tougher. I am pretty stuck on the shimmer effect so it would take some great data to sway me.

Thoroughly overloaded,

TenPercenter

 

[diciple]

10%er,cheaper way to light,2 400 se in luminarcs,w 2 vho actinics find a tank thats sucessful and has color you prefer and stick with what works i use ushio 20 k de 10k evc de in pfo s rich

 

[d4a2n0k]

I used to run 2 x 250w SE MH's with Lumenarc Minis on my 120 and electronic ballasts and wished I had more light. I could keep SPS anywhere but the colors were noticeably better near the top.

Because of the dimensions of the 120, get the best reflectors possible which you already have chosen.

If I had to do it over again, I would go the 2 x 250w HQI route just to get that extra punch down to the bottom. I might even think about 2 x 400's.

I had always gone with electronic ballasts in the past because I didnt want to deal with the heat/noise issues of the HQI ballasts. I just setup a 40 gallon tank and decided to try my first HQI and went with a 24" Maristar fixture and a Sunlight Supply Blue Wave ballast. Let me tell you, this ballast is silent and the case feels much cooler than my electronic ballasts! I couldnt believe it.

I dont have any experience with PFO but have heard and read many great reviews about them.

 

[tenpercenter]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I am on the right track I just get overwhelmed with info on here sometimes. Anyone else have anything to say about my proposed setup?

Diciple-
I have seen threads before showing multiple tanks on different lights. Any suggestions on where to see some setup options. And would the 400W SE really be cheaper? How so?

TenPercenter

 

[Laakmann]

2 250 DEs, 400 SE or 400 DEs depending on how you want it. No need for supplimental lighting, IMO it just makes things more complicated. I am a reef noob but I know the mistakes I made which was trying to put to much lighting over my 150 gallon 48x24x30.

IMHO lighting is an easy choice compared to flow, biggest mistake I made when I set up my tank 8 months ago. Now I am upgrading to a new tank that I can install a ridiculous closed loop on.

 

[tenpercenter]

I used to keep a 55 and one of my favorite things was the dawn/dusk period with the actinics on. I definitely want to have this feature again.

Funny, I think the flow is a much easier decision than the lighting. Seems to be two choices in a high end system. Tunze or a quality closed loop. I am going the closed loop route I think with a dart providing the power.

TenPercenter

 

[diciple]

10% many opinions ,look thru forums ,or totm and see sytemsfor example on lighting .dont hav pics but friend has 2 4oo se 3 4ft actinics and 1 daylight all corals look great!i have DEhqi but so many bulb ballast configurations se are not far behind DEs imo.and alittle more cheaper. most 400w se are about the same price as 250 DE look on forums rc @idol tanks !check out thre lighting.god bless and much success rich

 

[kodyboy]

Here is an option: get the aquactinics solar flare (6 80 watt overdriven T5s with excellent cooling and icecap ballasts) and then add a small 50 or so watt spotlight or two from home depot to get the shimmer effect, you could even go with the new LED floodlights. Shimmer + the effiecieny and color of T5!

 

[hahnmeister]

These are the best options, and each has their advantages/drawbacks (im assuming this is a 4' 120g, right?)...

1. 2x400wattSE halides. Pros: only 2 bulbs to change. Cheap to setup usually (two reflectors, most likely lumenarcs or lumenmax, two ballasts, and two bulbs). Cons: Only 2 bulbs has some drawbacks as well. You are going to to have to pick a bulb and stick with it. This can lead to you wishing you could modify an existing bulb just a bit, but being unable to do so. Also, 400watt bulbs are a mixed bag. Most 400s are probe start... US spec. This means that they usually wear out faster, and require an electronic ballast to preserve their life and output. Running one of these bulbs on a HQI ballast will kill them faster than expected, as they are not HQI grade, and most electronic ballasts have their output rivaled by a good 250wattDE bulb. There are only a few true HQI rated bulbs out there, including the Ushio/BLV nepturion 10,000K, 14,000K, and 20,000K (non-cwa) as well as the Aqua-Medic 10,000K and Aquaconnect 14,000K. Of these, I can only expect running a halide only system with the Aquaconnect or the Ushio 20,000K. The AC being the highest output 400 around (when run on the spec ballast) with a PAR of 170 on a HQI ballast. Also, true HQI 400s tend to be expensive, and hard to find. Some here just import the bulbs by the case for their own use to avoid these problems. For example, aquaconnect 14,000Ks are nearly impossible to find, and usually about $150 each when you do. IMO, they are a great bulb, but perhaps not the best option.

2. all T5s. You could get up to 10 rows of 54watt T5s over a 120g, while most fixtures top out at 8, a retro would allow you to use 10. This is about 540/432 watts of T5, and will allow you to grow many things in a 120g, but it may lack the overall punch you need should you desire to grow some higher-light SPS, or have light-loving clams on the bottom. With T5s, particular attention must be paid to bulb husbandry as well... most bulbs lack warmer spectrums all together for example, and so a 6500K or 3000K bulb thrown in to the mix is a good idea. You can see what I mean if you lookup mothra's blog at frags.org.

3. 2x250wattDE + 4x54wattT5. The best option IME. You use 10,000K-14,000Ks (the Ushio types more than the pheonix/blue types) for the halides, and a 50/50 combo of blue+ and true actinic bulbs for the T5s. The halides provide you the punch you need, as well as a full spectrum light (even 20,000K halides have a good deal of daylight unlike 20,000K T5s). They pack alot of punch per watt at 10,000K (higher output than many 400 watters that you would be considering because they would be bluer). The dual 250wattDE bulbs on HQI ballasts are long lived, easily available, and inexpensive ($60 for a Ushio 14,000K for example). The T5s then allow you to bring up the blue and actinic spectrums (as well as allow for off-hour or 'night' viewing). T5s are much more efficient at making blue light than halides are (some blue+ bulbs rival the aquablue/11,000K day bulbs in output for T5s), so you are really taking advantage of the best from both technologies. This combo makes for a very nice looking tank, and many of the local reefers who have 4' 120s have switched to this because they have seen other tanks with it and realized the results. This combo seems to hit just the right spectrums for all corals... kind of a 'daylight-blue' or 'warm-blue' look... not like a 14,000-20,000K bulb. The corals I see under this combo grow faster than anything else, and color in better than any other lighting I have seen.

If you wanted to get away with slightly less wattage, you could skip 2 of the 54wattT5s... the actinic ones (leaving the higher output blue ones). Being that most 10,000K range halides, as well as bulbs like the 14,000K Ushio have loads of actinic already (more than 20,000Ks usually... what they lack is a good blue spike), you can get away with only 2x54wattT5s. You just dont have that extra actinic look.