Lets talk about lighting an SPS tank

[Wiskey]

I just found this thread, some very interesting information.

I have a tank that measures 48 long *12 wide *18 tall (bad size I know) It is lit by a single 250W XM 10K, and I have had nothing but problems, tons of bleaching, but the bulb has very poor covrage on the ends. I don't want to upgrade to 2*250 because of the bleaching I am having on the corals directally under the bulb.

I had been dropping the photo period to avoid the bleaching, but I am questioning this action now.

I just raised the bulb from 10 inches, to 16 (can't be in the hood to do this) and turned it front to back (spyder reflector), then streched the reflector. Now I have even covrage, but less intence light.

I am betting that I was burning some corals with lots of light (right under bulb), while not giving others the light they need (ends of the tank).

Any ideas, suggestions? I will keep you all posted.

Thanks,
Whiskey

 

[ATJ]

Wiskey/Whiskey,

In a tank that is 18" high, in my opinion you could easily go with 2 x 150W lamps. I have two 36x18x18" tanks, each lit by 2 x 150W lamps and I get good colour and growth. My lamps are 6" from the water surface.

 

[JB NY]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6457266#post6457266 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ATJ
Wiskey/Whiskey,

In a tank that is 18" high, in my opinion you could easily go with 2 x 150W lamps. I have two 36x18x18" tanks, each lit by 2 x 150W lamps and I get good colour and growth. My lamps are 6" from the water surface.

agreed.

 

[Wiskey]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6457266#post6457266 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ATJ
Wiskey/Whiskey,

In a tank that is 18" high, in my opinion you could easily go with 2 x 150W lamps. I have two 36x18x18" tanks, each lit by 2 x 150W lamps and I get good colour and growth. My lamps are 6" from the water surface.

That is what I wanted to do origanaly, but I found a deal on a single 250W MH balast/reflector, and I really like XM 10K bulbs. I thought it would work, at the time I was not sure I even wanted MH so I decided to try this.

I don't have the money right now to upgrade to 2*150, so I am looking for something to get by with for now.

I will keep the 150's in mind for when I have a little extra spending money, what bulbs would you reccomend? keeping in mind I think XM 10K's on a magnetic balast give a perfect look. Are there any retrofit kits that stand out as a good choice? Are there any extra problems with HQI fixtures?

Thanks,
Whiskey

 

[johns]

How about for a tank that's 14" high, like a frag tank.

Which wattage would you recommend? How about if you were interested in running higher K bulbs, like 14K or 20K?

 

[ikn0xl]

What no mention of T-5's

 

[JB NY]

You can run T-5's. I've seen more tanks with MH with great colors than T-5 though. I also like the look of VHO actinics over T5 so it makes it hard to recommend T5 just for the main lights and VHO from actinics.

But really I like the look of MH more than T5. But you can use T5 if you want. As long as there is enough light you are all set.

 

[Vins Fins]

I went back and forth for weeks on which bulbs to relamp with. Was almost set on Xm 10K's. I was running 14 hamiton 250 watt version on the HQI ballast. I decided to go backwards and try a fairly new set of Iwasaki's that i used years ago. On the HQI ballast I hated the color, so I brought out my old regulal pfo ballast. I was surprized on how nice my tank looked under these lights. Yes it was yellow, but not over powering yellow, which made my system look natural. So then I installed 2 more light sockets within 2" of each Iwasaki bulb. I put my hamiton 14's in them and fired them up on the HQI ballast. WOW what a super crisp nice white color with a hint of blue and a small hint of yellow.
Very bright. So i've found a new light system that covers everything. I start out with 280 watts of vho actinic, then the Iwasaki's come on, 2 hrs later the 14K hammy's come on with the Saki's, then 2 hrs later the saki's go off and the Hammy's are on for one hour, then i'm left with the vho for 2 more hrs. All day long my system looks different and I find that I like all the color sequences. In the last week since runing the Iwasaki's i've noticed my sps tips are shooting up quickly, and most of all my softies are starting to show polyp extenision, which is somthing they haven't done in a while.

 

[mwood]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6831608#post6831608 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Vins Fins
I went back and forth for weeks on which bulbs to relamp with. Was almost set on Xm 10K's. I was running 14 hamiton 250 watt version on the HQI ballast. I decided to go backwards and try a fairly new set of Iwasaki's that i used years ago. On the HQI ballast I hated the color, so I brought out my old regulal pfo ballast. I was surprized on how nice my tank looked under these lights. Yes it was yellow, but not over powering yellow, which made my system look natural. So then I installed 2 more light sockets within 2" of each Iwasaki bulb. I put my hamiton 14's in them and fired them up on the HQI ballast. WOW what a super crisp nice white color with a hint of blue and a small hint of yellow.
Very bright. So i've found a new light system that covers everything. I start out with 280 watts of vho actinic, then the Iwasaki's come on, 2 hrs later the 14K hammy's come on with the Saki's, then 2 hrs later the saki's go off and the Hammy's are on for one hour, then i'm left with the vho for 2 more hrs. All day long my system looks different and I find that I like all the color sequences. In the last week since runing the Iwasaki's i've noticed my sps tips are shooting up quickly, and most of all my softies are starting to show polyp extenision, which is somthing they haven't done in a while.

If you like retro, here's another blast from the past. I run an Iwasaki Radium blend. That will get good color too. Now, I only run the Iwasaki's for a few hours and run the radiums all day, but it still works. I get several hours of blue light and a few of white.

Out of curiosity, what reflectors are you using to blend the light?

 

[Vins Fins]

My reflector is a home made version that I had custom built at a sheet metal shop. it's just under 6' long and about 20" wide with a 45 deg bend on the sides. 1/8" thick aluminum. My vho are mounted on the outside just before the 45 deg bend, and the halides are perpendicular to the vho's. two bulbs are only 2" from each other on each side of the tank. The center has no halides due to the oceanic glass brace.
The Hamilton 14K's remind me of the 20k Radiums, Ialso use to run that set up on the 400 watt hqi ballast. The saki's and radiums sounds like a great combo. In the future I think most will use a combination of halides. It would be great if someone comes up with a bulb that changes it's Kelvin and par output on a manually timed ballast that could follow sunrise to sunset.

 

[Wiskey]

I just saw this thread pop back up, and I thought I would give you'all an update.

I went with 2*250 after buying a light meater and finding out how little light I was really getting. Now I have the lights mounted 10 inches off the surface of the water so I get even coverage, and proper light. The reason I bought the 250's is because I will upgrade tanks to a 120 in the near future.

With the upgrade and a few minor changes my problems are behind me, and I am finally excited about what is going on in my tank.

Whiskey

 

[JB NY]

:thumbsup:

 

[volivier]

400W BlueLine electronic metal halide ballast

400W BlueLine electronic metal halide ballast

Read all the posts. I have a used 72" light with 2 VHO actinics and three 400W, 2 blueline 10K and 1 XM 10K used bulbs. I'm looking into replacing the bulbs and trying to decide on a brand name...usio, reeflux, coralvue, hamilton.......?????I have a blue tort, slimmers, and other acropora frags. I'm wanting to know which brand has the better bulbs, found some on ebay and someone said bad PAR, how do you know what par the bulbs are?
my tank is 135 gallon, 72"L, 24" tall,
newby to sps and halides

 

[JB NY]

I tested most all of them, I run XM10K. So does Sanjay.

 

[blstravler]

I just picked up 3 400w 10k Ushio's and of the 3, 1 of them is very yellow. I switched the bulbs around to make sure it wasn't one of the ballasts and it isn't.

Does anyoe know if there is a burn in period of these bulbs, do you think this will go away?

 

[TikiDan]

Well. I have only been at this for a littlewhile, and I was wondering what I could add to my tank to add more color. I am running PC lights, 200 watts on a 72 gal tank, and my my LPS and softies are growing very nice and very fast. But, I want more color!!! Am I running enough power to house anything with some more vibrant color?

 

[TikiDan]

Well. I have only been at this for a little while, and I was wondering what I could add to my tank to add more color. I am running PC lights, 200 watts on a 72 gal tank, and my my LPS and softies are growing very nice and very fast. But, I want more color!!! Am I running enough power to house anything with some more vibrant color?

 

[volivier]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7317515#post7317515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JB NY
I tested most all of them, I run XM10K. So does Sanjay.

i'm wanting some nice blue color without looking horrible blue. i was thinking the 12 or 14k of some brand, maybe reeflux or hamilton? trying to figure it out.

 

[mwood]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7334058#post7334058 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by volivier
i'm wanting some nice blue color without looking horrible blue. i was thinking the 12 or 14k of some brand, maybe reeflux or hamilton? trying to figure it out.

If you have an electronic ballast, an aquaconnect may be up your alley.

 

[Robert Patterso]

Which way do I go?

Which way do I go?

Ok, I've read this whole thread and there's alot of info. in here. And to be quite honest alot of it is over my head. I read the water quality thread and most of the water movement thread, all good. To me the most important is the water quality. But what I'm trying to figure out is what lights to run. Currently I running 150w 10k ushio de in a pfo pendant and 300w super actinics. My tank is 36Lx24Dx19WD. I'm the in process of moving towards an sps tank from a lps tank. Water movement I believe is not a problem I in my tank. I have approx. 1800gph total and when necessary I'll increase it. My question is, do I need to upgrade my lights or aleast the MH (or maybe the whole setup) or do you guys think what I have is fine. If my tank was only 18" deep I feel I would be fine, but being it' 24" I'm not so sure. I want to be sure. The water quality and movement is the easy part for me. I don't mind doing the water changes and such. That's part of the hobby (addiction). The sps's I have right now are small frags. And approx 100# of live rock.

Thanks for any input on this. And again great thread!!!!

Robert:crazy1: