Lighting (96"x48"x24") with mainly SPS corals

[Rickyrooz1]

I want to house mainly SPS and some LPS corals. My question is would four 400watt Lumenarc III (19.5"x19.5") and four 54 watt T-5's adequately light this wide tank or should I go with six 400 watt Lumenarc III mini (14.5"x14.5") with four T-5's? If I go with four Lumenarc III's they will be lined up in the center of the tank and if I use six Lumenarc mini's I will have one towards the front glass and one near the back glass going down towards the end of the tank.

 

[ycnibrc]

it's depend on your aquascape if you stack your live rock all across the tank then 5 with mini lumenarc will be fine. But if you do open aquascape then you only need to light up your island so many 4 will cover 4 islands. BTW that is all awesome dimension for a tank 48'' D.

 

[rlabriola]

i would use the lumenarc III's that are 20"...use 3-4...put 400W bulbs and lift them a little higher than normal.

 

[Jar*Head]

I agree with rlabriola... LAIII at 12" will cover 3x3 area plus the T-5 you should be fine... It also depend on which material you use for the tank. If glass, you can use more than 3 LAIII. But acrylic with 2 large cross brace. You may consider use 3 LAIII on the the large opening. You don't want to put your MH over the acrylic....

 

[pwhitby]

I have a 96x 48x 30 that is soley lit with T5s....I have great growth on my SPS at all depths.

If you are going with MH, as stated above, be careful with positioning so that the center bracing is shielded. Alternatively, lay a scrap piece of acrylic over the center brace to absorb stray UV.

Paul.

 

[Jar*Head]

PWhitby, how thick is the acrylic on your tank? 1" all around?

 

[Rickyrooz1]

I was going to use glass. Either a rimless or euro bracing tank with Starphire front and side panels. I may go with A.G.E. because I like the black PVC bottom and back panel.

 

[pwhitby]

mine is 3/4 inch

 

[Jar*Head]

Thanks pwhitby.

Rickyrooz, are you sure you want to do rimless on that size tank? If you are going with glass, you can put as many MH as you want without worry about melting anything.

 

[Rickyrooz1]

I love the look of the rimless but I think the cost of a job like that will be outrageous.

 

[Jar*Head]

oh yeah, no doubt about that. You may have to use thicker glass. I love the look of the rimless too. but i have got to have my waveboxes. Im looking forward to your build thread....

 

[Rickyrooz1]

If I don't go rimless is the euro bracing my next best option? I don't want cross braces.

 

[Jar*Head]

With that length you def need the cross brace... my friend Lemar tank is 96x30x24 it come with a large cross brace

 

[JCurry]

What's the problem with having a MH over the center brace? I was planning on 3 LAIII on my 60"x 24" x 24" but I was going to do 250 watters instead. Sorry Rickyrooz1 don't mean to hijack your thread but the discussion sparked my questions. Thanks.

 

[Wryknow]

Well, for starters the bracing tends to block a lot of the light (salt spray, etc) and you have to clean it a lot. If you have an acrylic tank then the MH may melt the acrylic if it's too close.

 

[reefkoi]

I Have a 96x48x30 tall tank and the 3 Lumeanarc III's light all the tank up fine. I think they can cover 48" just fine. It really comes down to how you aquascape it, scape the tank to utilize the light best.
Thats about as many III's as you can fit above a tank like that, they are so big that you dont have enough room to put 4 in without cracking a top brace.
I really recommend MH's above water only and not close to acrylic, I have 2 cracks in my top brace from MH's and 1 was caused from a 250 HQI that hung over the top brace a little too much.
C

 

[Rickyrooz1]

reefkoi, can you upload some pictures of your tank and lighting onto this forum or send me a link to some of your pictures? Thanks

 

[JCurry]

Thanks for the replies.