Serious lighting help

L

lawton111

New member
Hi everyone, I am having a tank built by a local expert dims 70h*100w*190l, it should work out at around 340gallons.
I am planning on building up(over time) to a full reef setup with fish and SPS. My question is on the lighting, what do you feel is a good setup to run this? I have limited access where I live to your kind of expertise so any help I can pass on to my installer would be much appreciated! Thanks
 
Gotcha. I think you might be able to get away with 250watt halides. But a lot of hardcore SPS guys are doing 400watt systems on that kind of depth. 400watt XM 20k's are pretty sweet.
 
Yep I was thinking 3 x 400 as well, will probably need to buy a chiller to control the heat, but also want some variation, sunrise/sunset and moonlight - any ideas on that? All will be controlled by a Neptune controller. Thanks
 
I know a lot of the 400watt tanks are running electronic ballasts for heat issues. But a chiller is probably a must. Depends on how much you want to spend, but the Sfiligoi ACLS 400W from Aquarium Obsessed is hard to beat. Complete control. The Neptune Controller is a must imo. I have a JR on my tank and love it. ;)

http://www.aquariumobsessed.com/
 
Are you thinking of using pendants or using a hooded fixture? I ask because with pendants you probably can't add the sunrise/sunset effect with daylight/actinic VHO's/PC's/T5's. Plus with a hood you can add fans to the sides to help with heat issues. Are you planning on using SE or DE bulbs? Another thing to consider is that pendants usually are better for deeper water because they're more efficient than hoods, but IMO they get hotter too. Electronic ballasts are a good idea instead of HQI cause they usually run the bulbs much cooler. I also like the look of 20K 400W bulbs for sps tanks. They look good and you can still have some serious growth. Just some thoughts...
 
Thanks for your help guys. I am looking at a pendant type fixture for three 400m/h supplemented with 3 actinic PC T5's. You dont think I can do the Sunup/sundown process. I am limited because my tank is positioned under the staircase so fitting a hood would be difficult. I will post pics so you can see :)
Any ideas on a godd chiller, I was looking at an Aqua medic AT 5000 as it is compact and efficient?
 
You can do a dawn/dusk effect with that kind of setup, it will just be an on/off type setup. Meaning, actinics on/off for dawn/dusk and halides for daylight, no dimming effect. The Sfiligoi ACLS 400W is the only dimming module around I think. Unless you go with a Solaris LED lighting or something like that. ;)
 
Thanks for helping Drummer. After spending most of the day going through these forums(some fantastic advice and info) I have modified my design, 2 x XM 250w10k, 1 x XM 250w 15k with T5 actinic supplement, hope that will be enough :)
 
Sounds like a good plan. Just remember, the XM 15k gives poor PAR results. I would go with 3 XM 10k's and then do your T5 actinic supplimentation. That should give you great color and growth. ;)
 
Think you are right Drummer, was just a little concerned that the 10ks were a little stark and I would need a lot of supplemental light. In my naivete thought if I introduced 1 bluer light, may do the job anyway. Will take your advice!
 
Starting to get a little confused again now!

As I am now ordering 3 x 250w XM 10k, what type of supplementation do I need, T5 or VHO, how many and what colours! My tank is 74" long by 39" wide, I have heard that VHO are power hungry but are better for colouration than T5!!

Help :(
 
The VHO actinics have better output than the T5's. VHO actinics are the only flourescents that beat T5's for output. With the 10K MH lights, I'd run straight actinics in a VHO setup with an icecap ballast (best to do an electronice here for power and efficiency)

Another consideration is to turn the MH lights on in a left to right or opposite timeperiod to mimic the sun crossing over the tank? I think Jdiek does this on his tank (chemistry forum) with good success.
 
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