Lights for my 155

[tahojones]

Well it's me again, with another stupid question.... Gosh I love you guys!.
Will I have to have a 6' Metal Halide fixture or will I need to set individual lights in my canopy? Is there even such a thing as a 6' light fixture (MH) that will fit under or in my canopy? Are some MH not IN a fixture? (Boy I'm so dumb about these lights). Could someone make suggestions for me to consider?
Thank You All, Linda J. :crazy1:

 

[GT_Jacket]

Do you have any details on the canopy? Height can sometimes be an issue with MH and the heat they produce w/i a canopy.

They do make MH/T5 combo fixtures in that size, but usually not the best bank for the buck.

 

[John_A]

Maybe just go to some place like hellolights.com and get some retrofit kits and mount them in the canopy

 

[NeveSSL]

Well, first off you need to determine what you want out of your lights before you go by them. Its kind of like buying a vehicle... if you have 6 kids, you don't want to buy a Prius. Unless you would like to buy a Prius, realize it doesn't work, return it, lose $, and try again until you get a mini-van... or small school bus.

What do you want to keep in your tank? And how deep is your tank?

Brandon

 

[tahojones]

The footprint is 72x18x27 (just the tank). I want softies and a few reef safe fish. I know that the MH are hot and will probable need a chiller, if I can find one. I may get by with fans. I don't have it yet so I have some time before I have to set it up. My 55G reef is up and doing well, so I'm not in a big hurry but want to do it right.
Linda J.

 

[sal-t-dawg]

you've got a pm:wavehand:

 

[NeveSSL]

If you're just wanting to do softies and fish, you could get by with a LOT less than MH! You could get by fine with just a few T5HOs, or probably even PCs.

Why start wasting electricity already if you don't have any colorful fuzzy sticks to look at? Especially with a chiller.

Brandon

 

[orthokardia]

I have a 250wx3 6' MH fixture and ballast that i can ring to the swap. $150
-bart

 

[zef004]

If you just want softies I would do t5. I never like pcbulbs. if it's the tank Jason used as fowlr. The canopy is not good for HM. To short.
If your hubby good at DIY I would retro fit t5 in the canopy It will cost around $500or lil more for 8 or 10 36" with reflector bulbs and ballast. All new with that price.
Reefkoi has some nice led fixture and I'm sure he will have some over his tanks at the swap. They go anywhere from 249-499 depends on the wats you want. You would need 3 of the 100w or 119w for a 6' long tankor 2 of the g2 blue fixture which I think they go for 449 I order one of his 119w led fixture. Hopefuly he got them today so I can have fixture over my tank at the swap. It's going to be for the frag tank part of my sump. If you like to pick my brain on this call me. It all depends how much you want to spend.