New to the hobby, need help with lighting!!

[tmn_3]

There is so much lighting out there to choose from and I am just not sure where to begin. I have a 46 gallon bow tank, that I would like to make into a reef tank. I would like to have all different types of coral. So what kind of lighting do you suggest?

 

[scrmbld33]

go with metal halides and actinics, im not sure of the size of a 46b, but 1 or 2 250w or 2 150w metal halides should be fine. as for actinics get the highest watts you can fit in you canopy

 

[weaselslucks]

i would go t5's with individual reflectors. as many bulbs as you can fit across the tank. You can pick combinations of light color and it will grow whatever you want.you will also have no heat issues.

Lightting however is a personal choice. you could go VHO's in atinics and do mh's.

whatever you pick makesure you have enough bulbs or whatnot to kepp everything you might possibly want

 

[nikon187]

+1 for t5. do 4 with good reflectors ( icecap, aquatinics, tek) you could overdrive them as well for more power

 

[tmn_3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13316397#post13316397 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by weaselslucks
i would go t5's with individual reflectors. as many bulbs as you can fit across the tank. You can pick combinations of light color and it will grow whatever you want.you will also have no heat issues.

Lightting however is a personal choice. you could go VHO's in atinics and do mh's.

whatever you pick makesure you have enough bulbs or whatnot to kepp everything you might possibly want

So t5's dont put off any heat or just not as much as a MH's do?

 

[WinnipegDragon]

Yeah, it's up to you between T5 and MH. I prefer T5 but to each, their own.

Don't get standard T8 or CF unless you only want to keep very low light corals (softies mostly)...

 

[cgoodman381]

Definetly individual reflectors for the t5's though, anything else is kind of 'meh'

 

[tmn_3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13316462#post13316462 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WinnipegDragon
Yeah, it's up to you between T5 and MH. I prefer T5 but to each, their own.

Don't get standard T8 or CF unless you only want to keep very low light corals (softies mostly)...

So what corals fall under "softies".? I know what sps is and the other groups of corals. Is anything thats not a sps a "softie"?

 

[WinnipegDragon]

Softies include leathers, kenya trees, stuff like that.

 

[cgoodman381]

shrooms as well.

Nems, clams, sps,lps all will require better lighting.

 

[tmn_3]

Lets say that I do not want to keep SPS, but everything else. Will that change the type of lighting that I need?

 

[cgoodman381]

Not really. If you still want most lps and clams you will need T5 or MH lighting.

 

[tmn_3]

T5 and MH are both really expensive, is there a place that I can find them really cheap?

 

[cgoodman381]

No matter what your going to have to shell out some cash for some decent reef lighting.

You could take a look here at the buy/sell forums... Also try craigslist and ebay.

Also check out saltysupply.com and globalaquaria.com

 

[weaselslucks]

+1 with the lighting.one of the most expensive things in this hobby is lighting.i had a cheep pc light on my first 29 gallon tank. did my shrooms survive? yes they did but they did not even show the colors they should have. i spent 150 on the cheap light and about 500 on my aquatinic xt5. the pc ran hot to the touch and the fans started squealing and finnaly quit(an easy fix but still) my t5's run cooler then a 20w bulb and i have sps,lps, and softies(and my zoas finally grow.

 

[WinnipegDragon]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13316698#post13316698 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tmn_3
T5 and MH are both really expensive

Dude, you are preaching to the choir

Any SPS/Clam setup for lighting on a decent size tank is going to run you several hundred dollars. There are cheap brands out there, no name stuff, but do you really want to risk running 300w of questionable electrical products over saltwater for 8 hours or more a day?

Save up, get good lights.

 

[caribian1]

i have 384 power compact and i keep all but not sps but i keep clams all that they do ok and i get good color

 

[WinnipegDragon]

If you are buying new lights though, would you buy 384w of CF or 200w of T5HO and get better PAR for less power consumption?

If you are buying new lights, buy good ones

 

[caribian1]

on a 46 gallon bow

 

[cgoodman381]

^ huh?