Lighting Question

[SoundRusher]

I am planning a 75 gallon (48"x18"x21") reef and I am wondering if an 8x54w ATI Sunpower will be too much light.

I would like to be able to have sps and maybe some clams near the sand bed. Light spill should not be much of an issue since the fixture will be housed in a ventilated canopy.

 

[rhino509]

would not be too much..there are people that run 400 watt halides in 75 gallon tanks.

 

[SoundRusher]

Thanks for the response.

Also, I forgot to mention that the fixture will be dimmable and that it will be at a maximum of 5-6" off the water due to the height of the canopy. Will this impact the choice of an 8 bulb fixture significantly?

 

[drw94]

I think a 6 would be fine. Then again I don't run a full t5 fixture. I was looking at a 6 bulb for my 24 inch deep tank. Just my opinion. There is a tank on this site that runs 4 t5 bulbs and 2 rows of royal blue less. It look great with awesome colors. Here is a link http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2175051.
Hope this helps. I have a hard time wasting electricity when I don't have too.

 

[ryansreef_26]

If you want to be able to keep acros on the sand and clams on the sand a t5 MH combo would work great, but if you already have the t5 fixture then you should be set, 8 54w ati = a lot of par ati's are great!

 

[SoundRusher]

I still do not have a fixture, I am looking to purchase one in the upcoming week. I have considered a MH T5 combo fixture (Giesemann infiniti) but I am worried about the heat and the fact that I will be unable to raise it very high.

I have also thought about LED's but I am not a fan of the spotlighting that may be produced. It also concerns me that they are a relatively new technology (for reefs) that do not have a long track record.

 

[trinity1012]

go t5's...just search around and look at the pics with t5 setup...less heat and u can play around with bulb choices to get the color you want.

 

[dg3147]

Or go with the 6 bulb unit and supplement with 2 long LED Reefbrite LED strips --one blue and one 50/50. That's my set-up on the 75g.