Lighting open top, 6 x 4 x 2.25 foot tank

lastlight

Premium Member
As the title suggests I'm looking for a lighting solution here.

I'm building with 1" acrylic and there will be 3 large entry holes in the top bracing like the crude diagram below.

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This tank will have a few LPS, Zoos etc, but mostly SPS over time with some clams. The top will be an open design and I had thought of two ways to do this.

1) Use 3 48" prefabbed light fixtures (1 over each hole). Ones I've looked at thus far are the aqua medic and maristar hqi/t5 combo hoods. Like what I hear about the maristar. These all seem to be 250W so I'm not sure i'll get enough light in a 27" tank.

2) Build a wood 'skirt' that will hang/suspend above the tank that is open top and bottom. Buy my own stuff and put it all together. The gear would be hidden in the skirt and maybe hang same height as the fixtures would. I'd prefer to use SE bulbs in this case (i like aquaconnect 14k) and may skip t5 for now. Do people recommend 2 x 250W over each hole? Would a 400W over each hole work as well (I have 4' wide tank). I'd use lumenarc IIIs i think But does anyone know whether they'd look too ugly since the skirt is elevated above eye level. I could also place something like a nicer looking lumen max 2 or even a pair of them over each hole. The skirt is to hide the sides of these but i guess you'd see the bottoms. Light fixtures I'm sure look better.


So there's my dilemna. I have only ever had SE bulbs and would love to use them again if possible. I want the solution to look good and provide enough light. The stand is ~40 inches high with the tank being 27" high. People will be able to see the lights I guess. Option 1 would force me to use 250W and I'd hate for that to not be enough if I buy 3 fixtures.

Lastly If anyone knows of pics of similar setups please let me know.

Thanks!

Brett
 
Brett,

IMO, two 250w HQI bulbs over each opening would be fine, in fact - very fine :) Remember if your tank is 27"H and you're using 1" material, your net inside height would be 25", subtract out a little air gap and a possible sand bed and your water column becomes 22-23", 250w HQI would be just dandy for this.
I used a combo of 150w HQI and 250w HQI on mine and was quite pleased.
FWIW, I've heard nothing but good things about the Maristars as well.

HTH,
James
 
Thanks for the feedback James. As you can see I'm getting closer to deciding on tank dimensions lol. Who'd have thought it would be so difficult!

Brett
 
I would suggest a total of six 250 MH in Luminarcs for optimal coverage. The surface area of almost 24 sq ft is a lot to cover.
 
your tank is like 2 of mine stacked back to back. I have a 250w XM MH over each opening. I also have a 6' VHO in front and behind the row of MH's. I have seen several others with my same setup with great results.

THe luminacrs would be best if price isn't an option. I have PFO parrallel reflectors on mine. There are plans out here for DIY of the luminarc knock-off reflectors if your into that. There is a thread in hear about the guy with the Petsmart stepped tank, he did a great job with the exposted square reflectors!
 
luminarcs and lumenmax handle a 3x3 area I would prob do 2 of them with xm 10ks and 2 vho atinics on the sides
 
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