Really need some lighting advise

S

seanmc980

New member
I have a 72G bow front. It's only 12" deep(front to back) and is given me a real problem with lighting choices. I was originally going to go with 2X250W MH 10K with 4X54 T5's Actnic supplementing. I can only find endcaps @ 2.5" widths 4X2.5 would be 10".. I dont think I can fit metal halides in there as well? I was thinking about going with 4X96W Compact Fluorescent Lamps with the MH's ... there foot print is much smaller but the color choices seem limited.. does anyone have any suggestions? What would do? MY budget is about $500
 
I really like the shimmer with MH's and I want to keep a wide range of corals... I really really like a tank with alot of blue pop. I think it looks awsome when you kill the MH's and it brings me back to my blacklight days =)
 
I was wondering... If I only have 12" to work with how much more room would I create by a Halfpipe like reflector? It would obviously need to be 48"X12" If I made it 8-12" tall I wonder if that would get me enough space for 4 T5's and the MH's.. any thoughts? If it was Polished Aluminum it would reflect fine but i wonder how much light would lost having one huge reflector?
 
If you don't want to use a chiller use T5s only go with aquatinics or ATI if you want to keep sps. A chiller will easily cost you close to 1K not to mention how much power it sucks.
 
Tek light makes a really good fixture 6x54w t5 bulbs and will fit well on the 72g. I personally have 4x54w t5 icecap retro kit but wish I could add 2 additional bulbs and since is very hard with the bowfront I will be soon upgrading to a 120g.
 
sun light solutions makes a really slim t5 retrokit end caps are aprox 3/4" wide by 2"tall i was able to retro fit them into a coralife aqualight pro with 2 250 watt mh. they were the only ones small enough to fit where the compacs were. if you really like the blue color look go with the 14k Pheonix MH bulbs tons of blue in those or for slightly less blue try Elios 20k

PS. chiller can be left out if you use good fans to move air across the tank and fixture. Or do what i do when you know the summer temps will cause tank to over heat close the windows and turn on the A.C.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14427075#post14427075 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jceli728
Tek light makes a really good fixture 6x54w t5 bulbs and will fit well on the 72g. I personally have 4x54w t5 icecap retro kit but wish I could add 2 additional bulbs and since is very hard with the bowfront I will be soon upgrading to a 120g.
Click to expand...

The only Tek Retro I could find that was 6X54 was 15" deep.. my bowfront is 12" So this would not fit in my canopy.

It can't seem to find any light system @ 12" with more than 4 bulbs?
 
if you're referring to the 8 bulb nova(the link isn't working), it's a good fixture but if you a lot of sps, you need a fixture with individual reflectors.
 
Strange the link isn't working... it works fine when I click it. I found it on another site. It looks like it has individual reflectors.

http://buildyouraquarium.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=178

Anyone know where I can find a 8X54 fixture bare with endcaps that measures under 13" wide?

Also if I went with 8X54W ATI bulbs do you guys think I would be OK for SPS? This would be 432W.. I really want to find this fixture so I can Wire two IC 660's for a total of 640W of T5! would that be overkill?
 
the amount of watts doesnt matter, you could be using 2000watts and still not be able to keep sps, its all about how much light reaches your corals, and that depends on the quality of your reflectors and how cool the fixture is kept. Also, adding more bulbs over your tank will not improve coral growth, it will only increase the amount of space yoo can put coral under, for example if you only place bulbs over 9 of your 12in you will be able place your most needy corals under those 9in of your tank, which is more than most people need. If you dont want to buy top quality reflectors you can always build rock structures and keep your SPS near the top and LPS near the bottom. You get what you pay for, I also suggest using ATI and KZ bulbs, dont forget to protect your bulbs and reflectors from salt creep with a glass sheild.
 
After a TON of reading and some good advise I've decided to go with this setup. I wanted to go with just the IC 660 but I wanted to be able to control the Daylights and actinics with timers... I'm still on the fence with what bulb setup to go with. I plan on going with ATI and will probably fire up three Actinics with the IC and running the two 12K with the Advance ballast. This seems like it's gonna be alot of blue but i can always replace the ATI Blue Plus with another 12K.. Let me know what you guys think about this setup.

5X54W total $486.98

Ice cap 660 running 3X54@240W $150.00
2X54W T5/HO Ballasts - advance $44.95
ATI 54W 12000K Aquablue Special T5HO $ 21.95
ATI 54W 12000K Aquablue Special T5HO $21.95
ATI 54W True Actinic 03 T5HO $21.95
ATI 54W True Actinic 03 T5HO $21.95
ATI 54W Blue Plus T5HO $20.95
T5 Moisture Resistant Endcap pair $9.75 X 5 $48.75
T5 Mounts/Stand-Offs X5 $24.75
Tek 2 T5 Parabolic Retrofit Reflector $21.95X5 $109.75
 
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