Lighting Questions for a Beginner

[CMJones]

Ok, so i'm starting my first tank. For FW i have it all set up and figured out. I know exactly what plants need what light and where best to get them... Salt Water and corals... Not a bleeding clue. So here's what i've got that i can work with. If anyone can help me figure out the best options with what i've got available.

So, for now, i have a 135G 6ft Long X 18inch Wide X 2ft Tall tank.

I currently have on it 1 Finnex Ray2 (10000K LED) and 1 Finnex FugeRay+ (6500K + Actinic and Red)

Ballasts i have:
1 Rail Trac Light for Par38 with 2 Ballasts
2 Rail Trac Light for T6 Metal Halide with 15 Ballasts (i know i don't need all of them... About to start selling them off pretty cheap in fact since i got them for free and they sell for about $300 new)
8 T8 42inch Ballasts with Reflectors

I have heard really good things about using the Par38 Ballast and Bulbs. So, for my two bulbs, which ones do i want? What i've seen as far as the best price / product are these, but i don't know what light combination to get

http://www.ebay.com/itm/E27-54W-LED...911?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a3e7ccd8f

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-Spectr...721?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item20f420f7a1

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Ship-54w...655?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item418f85473f

If i should use the metal halide, what type should i get? I know each Ballast can hold 150W bulb and are the T6 Ceramic MH lights. They're studio quality with a focusing lense and all for commercial use (got them when my work remodeled and was going to toss when they upgraded to LED)

Some pics of the Trac i have. Please excuse the work area, it's not the cleanest. And i have 15, not just the 2 ballasts.


How they looked when hooked up at work


What the tank looks like right now and has 3 little mushroom corals that were apparently getting too much light in the center.


Any and all help is appreciated

 

[Bpb]

Whatever you do, don't pick up the third bulb with all those red diodes. No Bueno. A mixture of the first two would be decent, but I would honestly scrap the track lighting idea and go with something a little more conventional and less experimental

 

[CMJones]

I thought Metal Halides were conventional for reef tanks? At least that's what i'd heard a lot. Same thing, just instead of a single bulb attached inside a canopy, these are hung over the tank as a pendant.

The PAR38 LED bulbs i've heard from someone who had them on trac lights were some of the best lights they ever had after hearing i had the Par38 ballasts (the individual even runs a home business for SW fish and tank setups, so fairly experienced). They however failed to mention which ones in particular they got, and i don't know enough about what color spectrums work best to know which ones i should be looking for.

 

[Bpb]

I more mean metal halides geared toward coral growing in large reflectors. Mogul or hqi sockets in the 250-400 watt range for your tank size and focusing in the 14000-20000k range

 

[Bpb]

This is just an example but you get the idea. Most of our reef metal halide lights are derived from plant growing reflectors that give massive spread and par with bulbs heavy in the blue and violet with very little red and green comparatively

 

[CMJones]

Interesting. Never seen anything like that... At the LFS they look a lot more like what i've got above their big coral tanks in a blue spectrum (I'm assuming Actinic). These that have are designed for studio use and can spread or focus the beam. Good high quality reflectors inside them as well. However, they only get 150W as max power. So, instead of doing 4 of them like you have shown here... I could do more... I have 11 of them, i can put 8 instead of 4 and get the same effect yes? Just make sure i go for a 14000-20000K range?

 

[Bpb]

It depends on what you're wanting to keep. As far as the par38 bulbs go with leds. It'll be a crap shoot. Some are ok others are garbage. I don't use them so I can't comment too much aside from avoid the ones loaded with red. Most Lfs won't use the types of halides i sent an example of. They are what you'll find people using on their own tanks. Most Lfs serve as nothing more than temporary holding tanks for coral so they avoid the large bulky power hungry metal halides and favor leds that they can just run heavy blues on.

Also. Using lots of 150 watt bulbs isn't the same as using a couple 250 or 400 watt bulbs. The higher wattage bulbs will burn brighter and give a lot deeper penetration in the water. Lots of 150 watt bulbs will just spread out the dim light. Two 150 watt bulbs won't punch as deep as a single 250 watt bulb if that makes sense

 

[CMJones]

That makes perfect sense... Which is why i was also thinking for that reason, to place the Trac in front or behind the tank and shine it directly into it from the front or back center. Direct lighting straight in instead of from the top. That would give it a good punch so it only has to penetrate 9 inches of water (to reach the center of the tank since it's 18 inches wide if i put one on each side) instead of 24 inches (to go from the top to bottom) and be less energy intensive.

If none of the ballasts i have work. I'm not gonna waste electricity and energy on Metal Halides like that though. I'll just get some 5 or 10W Cree LEDs and build a system that's more customized and uses less power. Was just hoping what i had would be able to work for free as opposed to a few hundred.

 

[Bpb]

Also depends on what kind of coral you're wanting to keep.

 

[CMJones]

I do plan on a variety. Right now just softies (since i'm starting out and just wanna cut my teeth on 'em). But in a few years, i'm hoping to get up to Acropra and the such as well. Some of them are just too beautiful.