Lighting help

T

TomStill

New member
So I'm sure this question has been asked a million times, but im gonna ask it again. I have a 60" 120 gallon tank that I am about to set up, and I need help with the lighting. Should I go t5 retro kit or metal halides. I believe whichever way I decide, i will do a retro kit. I don't know exactly what I want to keep in it as of yet but up til now it has been mostly zoas, mushrooms, xenia, and frogspawn. I don't want to be limited that much though.

What would you guys recommend (type of lights, and quantity)?

Also, where is the best place to buy the recommended lights?

Bill, I know we spoke about this and you had some good recommendations, however my short term memory has failed me and I would appreciate your opinion (again).

Thanks again for all your help!

Jon
 
I would go led if I could. No heat issues and very little power used. That said it will depend on what you want to keep. Sps love the halides but I have seen some successful t-5 tanks too. I love the shimmer produced by my halides and th led's
 
What is the depth of the tank? Pickupman66 asks a good question; what do you wnat to keeep? The harder issue is what might you want to keep in the future?
 
Depends on what your primary Species will be, But the best combo would be 2x250W M/H
along with either Reefbrite 48" LED's or 60" T5HO's 80W each x 4 and with this set up you can keep anything from Lower to Higher light critters depending on how high up in the tank you place them.
Me personally, I would do 2x48" LED 1xblue 1xblue/white with DE 250W with Lumanaric reflectors with Phoenix bulbs 14K and some Moonlights from Anthony (ameares8)?
Bill
 
The depth of your canopy will determine a lot on the MHs, too. Personally, I'm doing DIY leds. To buy LED units costs an arm and a leg. To DIY them allows you to customize which LEDs you put in (to "tune" your color, so to speak) without spending a fortune. Unless you just have a fortune to spend. :) Then I'd say go AquaIlluminations.

Brandon
 
thanks, these are all good points. If anyone knows, the tank I am setting up is the one I have from ZachB which has a taller than normal Canopy, so that might help with halides heat. I like Bill's recommendation with a combination of halides and either LEDs or T5's. I currently have T5's on my 90. I believe the depth of the tank is the same as a traditional 90.
I have thought about the DIY LEDS, but haven't done the research to know what others are using or how many of them.

My next question is, what are some good sources to buy the retro kits and bulbs (T5 and Halide) from that doesn't kill the budget?

Thanks!

Jon
 
also, I dont want to be too limited with what I can keep. I dont want to jump into getting clams (although they looked good at the swap), but I would like to give some SPS a try
 
I thought that was the tank you were working on. That is a nice set up, I considered buying it myself. As for T-5 retros, I’m running 2 Icecap 440 ballasts with 60” T-5 bulbs over my 180 and like them a great deal. Icecap has gone out of business so some folks are leery of them but Coralvue will be servicing the 440 and 660 ballasts for a nominal charge. You can pick up a ballast on the selling forum. I got my reflectors from the Critter (they had to order them as they said they were not carrying them anymore). Otherwise, It was a little hard to find a ballast that could run 2 60” T-5 unless you want to go with Workhorse. Separately, you could just order a 2 bulb 60” retro kit from ReefGeek.
 
+1 on ReefGeek retro kits. BRS has the IceCap stuff on sale at cost today. It will go quickly, so look as soon as you can!

Brandon
 
MH with t5 or LEDs. Or all LEDs. If do all t5 8-10 60"bulds which you will be limited on types. Look to spend over $200 very 12 months for bulds with 2x 250mh + 2 60" t5 under $200 for new bulbs. Or all LEDs every 5-7years.
You can get 2 reefkoi LEDs like the one he had at the swap for 620 shipped. You'll save more then that on bulbs.those have good par reading at 5" above the water 24" from the waterline down on send you'll get 100 par 400-450 4" under the waterline.
Don't remember how high that tank was. But I'm sure it's less then 24" tall.
Jmo
 
If anyone want to see 1st hand the par reading on reefkois LEDs and I have the parameter back then they are more then welcome to come by. I also have one that lil more powerful then his. that get over 250par on the sand bed and 1375 4" under the waterline.
 
At this time I mostly likly won't have the meter for 2 weeks. After luckyfish use it he is the last one on the list.
And it will be a Sunday after 5 when all lights are on.
 
I wouldn't go w/ par 38, the C/P is not good...
I am not paying over 100 for a 20w LED bulb..
if you want the par38 bulb to cover your tank, you will spend a lot more than just getting the regular LED light fixture.
 
NeveSSL said:
What are the LEDs that ReefKoi had this year?

Brandon
Click to expand...

Those are the one he sales. He has about 8 different ones. But the one he was using are evolution LEDs 120w 1G [20K] for 299. You can get them in 14k too.
Also 200w g2 and 200w, 50w & 100w g3. And a 60w that looks like a UFO
All the g1 g2 and g3 come in 14k or 20k.
 
Zef, what kind of corals are you keeping under your LEDS? This sounds like the way Im leaning, mostly because of the low power consumption, and the frequency of changing the bulbs, I think if the LEDS work well, they definitely pay for themselves pretty quickly.
 
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