Lighting

[VictorE]

In my tank size thread, lighting came up as an obvious issue. As I understand it, the deeper you go, the more specialized lighting is required. This lightingvrequires a lot of power, is expensive, and can heat up the tank enough that a chiller will be required.

The initial concept is to have 2 overhead lights each of which contain two 150 watt 10,000K metal halide lamps, two 96 watt True Actinic 03 Blue lamps and three 1 watt Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow 470nm LED lamps. Will this still limit what can be placed on the bottom of a 36" or 48" tank?

If so, what are some examples of what would be inappropriate at a 4 foot depth with this lighting configuration?

Are there other lighting configurations that would remove limitations of specimins at a 4' depth? One poster suggested 1000W halides. How many 1000W halides would be needed to fully light the bottom of a 4' tank?

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

4' tank is very deep for a reef tank, i would also say 400 watt mh or 1000 watters would have to work if you want to keep corals at the bottom.

why such a deep tank?

 

[VictorE]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10251814#post10251814 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kau_cinta_ku
why such a deep tank?

Good question . . . but not a very strong answer.

Just looking at the space, It would fill it very nicely and would be quite impressive looking.

As mentioned in my tank size post, one cannot ignore the ability to reasonably service such a monster. It will not be impressive or fun if it cannot be maintained.

How many of these 400W or 1000W would you say are necessary to penetrate almost 4'.

What types of invertebrates could survive near the bottom with less light? Is there a list that would give a newbie like me some ideas as to the different types of species and their individual light requirements?

 

[WaterKeeper]

My goodness. A 48" deep tank is a lighting challenge indeed. There are options however.

• First of all make sure you choose inverts wisely. Unless you go with a very high intensity system such things as SPS may be unworkable
• For high light intensive corals place them high on the rockwork
• With the slim T-5 bulbs you can provide bottom lighting to some degree; either by side or rear lighting.
• I'd say about four 400 watt MH lamps would be better than a couple of 1000 watters. They would provide better end to end illumination of the tank.

Overall, you may find that choosing less light loving corals is the best way to go.

 

[VictorE]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10252204#post10252204 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WaterKeeper
First of all make sure you choose inverts wisely. Unless you go with a very high intensity system such things as SPS may be unworkable

Is there a place a newbie could go and see a list of inverts, what they look like and what are their ideal lighting conditions as well as other features of each invert?

 

[WaterKeeper]

Sure for corals you can buy or get a copy at the library of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1890087483/reeflink" target="_blank"><b>Aquarium Corals</b></a><br>Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History<br><i>by Eric Borneman</i><br><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1890087483/reeflink" target="_blank"><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1890087483.01.TZZZZZZZ.jpg"></a>.

Anemones can be found at [anemone]