Lighting a 36"x36" SPS Dominant Tank?

R

rainmkr07

New member
I tried this in the lighting forum and got a bunch of "just install LED" replies, which is not what I am looking for. All of my favorite SPS dominant tanks either have MHs or T5s over them. I am sold on them, and want to avoid LEDs.

My tank is a 150g Marineland DD, that's 36"x36"x27". I want to go heavy SPS. I already have lots of nice sps frags (spent $500 a few months back on them). They are all alive, encrusting, and colorful, but, the lighting, IMO, needs to change. My alk (9) and cal (420) are consistent, and have been for a while now.

I am currently running 1 400w MH 14k bulb in a lumen bright large reflector over the tank. It's 16" from the surface. I believe everything within a 2'x2' radius in the middle, top to bottom, is getting great light. However, I think anything around the edges of the tank isn't getting the light it needs. Enough to survive, sure, but to thrive, definitely not.

What should I do? Find a bigger reflector meant to cover a spread more like 3'x3'? Switch to T5s and get a large fixture like an ATI 10 bulb, or the Sfiligoi 12 bulb?

The tank doesn't have a canopy, so I'd hang the light from the ceiling or mount it on the top with legs. I love the 36" of depth, but am finding it very hard to light! I think this single reflector is really meant for a 2'x2' square... What should I do to get 3'x3' coverage for SPS to thrive, top to bottom? Thank you!

 
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I have the exact same tank, which as you know was not cheap, and I wish I never got it for this exact reason. The lighting is a problem. I have the canopy and its probably worse that your setup. I run a 400W 20K and 2 x 75 watt actinics VHO's. It's not exactly 5watts per gallon but it does work. I did run 2 x 400W halides which gave me my wattage per gallon but the reflection from the cube itself was way to much. So I also was told LED's but I am not spending that much money on LED's for this cube. I would say add some actinic lighting or go around your currect reflector with blue Hi power moon light strips " LED's " for extra lighting and pop. I would love to ask you what your flow characteristics are and how you have it setup?
 
parkavenuereef said:
I have the exact same tank, which as you know was not cheap, and I wish I never got it for this exact reason. The lighting is a problem. I have the canopy and its probably worse that your setup. I run a 400W 20K and 2 x 75 watt actinics VHO's. It's not exactly 5watts per gallon but it does work. I did run 2 x 400W halides which gave me my wattage per gallon but the reflection from the cube itself was way to much. So I also was told LED's but I am not spending that much money on LED's for this cube. I would say add some actinic lighting or go around your currect reflector with blue Hi power moon light strips " LED's " for extra lighting and pop. I would love to ask you what your flow characteristics are and how you have it setup?
Click to expand...

I also wish I had gone with a different tank initially. Perhaps a 4x2x2 120g would've been the better and easier choice. I was running 2 radions in the canopy for the first 9 months. About a month ago I sold the canopy and the radions. Radions weren't giving me the 36"x36" coverage either; plus they made all the SPS in the tank brown; plus the PAR at the bottom of the tank was non-existant. So I got the 400w MH reflector as you see above, and I get 200 PAR on the sand bed, my SPS have colors now, and are growing much faster. So radion to 400w MH was a step in the right direction. If I could just get better 36"x36" coverage with the reflector, I think I'd be happy.

I have 2 MP40w's in the back. I need to change out the finer sand for some coarser sand because I want to turn them up to 100% (currently at 75%), but the fine sand blows around too much. I am running a MAG 18 return pump that feeds a 1/3HP chiller before going to the DT.

For more details, I made another post in the lighting forum here, but basically, I know my favorite SPS tanks are lit by MHs, so this is the place I need to be. I just feel like most of those tanks have a MH over a 2'x2' area, such as 3 over a 6x2x2 tank, or 2 over a 4x2x2 tank. But what do those folks do with 3 foot deep tanks, like the DD series? (3x3x27"; 4x3x27"; 5x3x27"; 6x3x27").
 
what's up, I have the same footprint but my tank is only 20" tall. I use 1 250 watt
MH centered, and 2 36" t5s running from the back to front on either side of the halide. I definitely get good light coverage. I also use 2 mp40s on the back glass at about 75%. I love the shape of these tanks although they do present some difficulties. Overall, I'm happier with this shape than my prior 6 foot and 4 foot tanks.
 
rainmkr07 said:
I also wish I had gone with a different tank initially. Perhaps a 4x2x2 120g would've been the better and easier choice. I was running 2 radions in the canopy for the first 9 months. About a month ago I sold the canopy and the radions. Radions weren't giving me the 36"x36" coverage either; plus they made all the SPS in the tank brown; plus the PAR at the bottom of the tank was non-existant. So I got the 400w MH reflector as you see above, and I get 200 PAR on the sand bed, my SPS have colors now, and are growing much faster. So radion to 400w MH was a step in the right direction. If I could just get better 36"x36" coverage with the reflector, I think I'd be happy.

I have 2 MP40w's in the back. I need to change out the finer sand for some coarser sand because I want to turn them up to 100% (currently at 75%), but the fine sand blows around too much. I am running a MAG 18 return pump that feeds a 1/3HP chiller before going to the DT.

For more details, I made another post in the lighting forum here, but basically, I know my favorite SPS tanks are lit by MHs, so this is the place I need to be. I just feel like most of those tanks have a MH over a 2'x2' area, such as 3 over a 6x2x2 tank, or 2 over a 4x2x2 tank. But what do those folks do with 3 foot deep tanks, like the DD series? (3x3x27"; 4x3x27"; 5x3x27"; 6x3x27").
Click to expand...

Very interesting... We pretty much have very close setups. I also run a mag 18 return to the DT. I had two 400W radion 20Ks in the canopy. I was smoking everything and water was bleached out... went down to the single with a reflector and two VHO's. It's literally 6 inches off the water or less cause the factory canopy that came with those tanks for 2 grand where short.. Which now you make me wonder if I have zero par at the bottom two.

My original tank that was the best ever was a 48x24x24 120G that was teh best ever stocked to the gills with sps color that was amazing with two 400W 20ks.

May just have to sell this cube and go with a 120 gallon unit.
 
subscribed and tagging along this thread -- as my tank is being built at the moment, I am cracking my head as to how to light it up, dimension is 72" L x 36" D x 20" H.... my current setup is 36" L x 34" D x 24" H using a single 400w Radium 20,000k on LiteCo Fixture (comes w/ 2 x 2ft T5) Colouration of sps on the center is doing great but as it reaches the front view of my tank the lighting casts shadow and thus the corals colours are less appealing than those facing the light source.

Been searching high and low and it came to a point that probably (and I mean probably) my best solution is using hydroponic reflectors, one of which I am looking at is sun systems magnum xxxl 6" (http://www.greners.com/i/grow-light...ystem-magnum-xxxl-6-air-cooled-reflector.html)

Would be happy to hear your take on this.
 
Someone is selling a 36" ATI 10x39w Powermodule locally. I wonder if this would be equal to, better than, or worse than, a single 400w MH reflector over the tank? Anyone with experience here? The 36" ATI is 22" wide, so, on legs, or hung from the ceiling, that would provide good coverage for the entire tank I think?
 
joncver said:
subscribed and tagging along this thread -- as my
Been searching high and low and it came to a point that probably (and I mean probably) my best solution is using hydroponic reflectors, one of which I am looking at is sun systems magnum xxxl 6" (http://www.greners.com/i/grow-light...ystem-magnum-xxxl-6-air-cooled-reflector.html)

Would be happy to hear your take on this.
Click to expand...

wow. that's a big reflector. you'd definitely get 36"x36" coverage with that bad boy. i have never seen one of those used for reefs though. can they? if so, that's really tempting imo.
 
I would go with 2 T5 fixtures, 36" with 6 bulbs each. That's 12 bulbs. Most 6 bulb fixtures are 12 wide, so you could space the the two fixtures front to back evenly.
 
Mark said:
I would go with 2 T5 fixtures, 36" with 6 bulbs each. That's 12 bulbs. Most 6 bulb fixtures are 12 wide, so you could space the the two fixtures front to back evenly.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark. What about penetration? Can a 6x39w T5 fixture penetrate to the sand bed of a 27" tall tank? I was worried that a smaller T5 fixture (or any for that matter) wouldn't punch through such a tall tank?
 
You just used the wrong reflector, you went with a spotlight instead of a flood. The rest of the setup should work fine. LumenMax Large reflector is the solution, it will cover your 36x36 area.
 
I basically have two 36" cubes as my DT is 72" x 36" x 34". I also went with a single 400w MH in the center for a while. Didn't cut for me either, as the shadowing ends up being terrible towards the bottom, especially with a peninsula style tank.

I ended up using two Lumenbright mini pendants side by side. They are 16" wide so two of them touching each other makes a 32" footprint that moves the lights towards the outside of your DT. I have them slightly angled inward towards each other. This gives the sandbed tons of light and focuses the the most light towards the center of tank from the outside in.

Just because I prefer a ton or light, (and so does my SPS) I went even further and added two plasmas in each 36" footprint as well. So basically I have a light in all four corners of each 36 cube. This pretty much minimizes any shadowing problems. With my tank being 34" deep, 400MHs and Plasmas were the only ones that seemed bright enough for me towards the bottom. With yours being 27" deep you might be fine using 250s.
 
sirreal63 said:
You just used the wrong reflector, you went with a spotlight instead of a flood. The rest of the setup should work fine. LumenMax Large reflector is the solution, it will cover your 36x36 area.
Click to expand...

The reflector was given to me for free. I found good reviews for them online however, because they are more spotlight than flood. The only concern I have with the "flood" lumen max reflector, is the LACK of spotlight. I guess you can't have both right? I want flood AND spotlight... full coverage and the punch to get to the sandbed of a 27" tall tank.

Someone is selling a 36" ati 10x39w T5 fixture. can't help but wonder if that would be a better choice. most people seem to think sticking with the 400w MH is the way to go though?
 
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/1/review

if i was smarter, i would actually be able to understand this data. it has my current lumen brite; the lumen max i have been considering from BRS; the popular lumenarc 3, etc.

i am not sure which reflector, based on the data, would be the best choice for a 3'x3' tank, that is, covers the most area with the highest par, any takers on looking at the graphs for me please?
 
The Lumenarc 3 is what I would use if you can find one. You should be able to keep acros anywhere within a 30x30" section as deep as 24". That lower 2-3" is usually reserved for LPS, zoos, ect that will be fine even at the 30" edges.

Because of the way it's designed, most of your shadowed area will be towards the back of the tank.

I have kept my LM3s becasue of the possibility of using it for just that size tank 30-36" width. I hate the 27" depth on those tanks............that was a mistake when they designed those tanks. 24" depth & even options for a 20" would have made these better sellers & easier to maintain.

You also have to consider the type of par you are getting from the 400w bulb you use. A Radiam on a HQI ballast is going to give you about 30% more par than say a 400w Reeflux 12k on an electronic ballast.
 
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