thinking about up grading my lights

natep206

natep206

Blenniella chrysospilos
ok so after alot of thinking and disscussing i have disided im getting a mh fixture. ill probly be buying one out of the classifieds and buying bulbs from some where on line.

my question is first. what spectrum bulb should i get? 10k 14k 20k? which one?

second. will 400 wtts be fine for all sps on a standard 55 gal?

last. ( i know this isnt lighting qustions but) how much gph should i have? and should i have just high current areas where i put most of the sps?

thanks
nate :beer:
 
You can get by with a 250W 10KK or a 400W 14KK.
It doesnt matter how many watt per gallen.
A 250W or 400W can provide good lighting for an area of 24" X 24", around the same depth.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7586933#post7586933 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by natep206
can u please give an explaination y a 400wt set up isnt good for a 55?
Click to expand...

Because your tank is 48" long, and only 22 inches deep. With only 22inches deep, you dont need a 400w, you only need a 175 or so. It also wont have a big enough coverage to cover that 48" length on the tank.

Halides are generally reccomended for a 24"x24" area. You have a 48" long area, so you need 2 bulbs. Go 2x175, or 2x250 at most.
 
I wouldn't go lower than a 250, but that’s just me; however, if you wanted to go 400 that would be fine too. I went up to 400s from 250s because my tank wasn't bright enough for me. It depends what you like; so, I'd talked to some local reefers and see if you can't arrange a viewing of their tank/lighting setup.

However, when you really get down to it 175s, 250s or 400s would all get the job done. I'd suggest 250s unless you've seen 400s setup and know that you only want to keep SPS. As for the spectrum, that is completely up to you; I'd go around and view some local tanks and see what I liked the best.

For flow, it depends how you set the rocks/corals up and how you position power heads. If you have a lot of rock and really pack it in you'll need more flow, but if you leave it open you'll need less. You want a good all around flow, but you don't want any direct flow from PHs hitting the corals.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7591248#post7591248 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Snausages01
I wouldn't go lower than a 250, but that’s just me; however, if you wanted to go 400 that would be fine too. I went up to 400s from 250s because my tank wasn't bright enough for me. It depends what you like; so, I'd talked to some local reefers and see if you can't arrange a viewing of their tank/lighting setup.

However, when you really get down to it 175s, 250s or 400s would all get the job done. I'd suggest 250s unless you've seen 400s setup and know that you only want to keep SPS. As for the spectrum, that is completely up to you; I'd go around and view some local tanks and see what I liked the best.

For flow, it depends how you set the rocks/corals up and how you position power heads. If you have a lot of rock and really pack it in you'll need more flow, but if you leave it open you'll need less. You want a good all around flow, but you don't want any direct flow from PHs hitting the corals.
Click to expand...


Theres nothing you can keep with 400s in a 55 that you can't keep with 250s. its not a deep enough tank that it matters.
 
I didn't say he wouldn't be able to keep certain things if he didn’t go with 400s. All lights would work for a 55 as I said, but it depends on what he wants. If he went with a 10K 175, 10K 250 and a 10K 400 they would all look different and the coral colors would be different as well, but they would all get the job done. So just because a tank isn't very deep doesn't mean it wouldn't see benefits from the added light of a 400 (but again this depends what he wants to keep).

So why exactly would a 400 for a 55 be bad?
 
If you go with halides any wattage on a 4 foot tank you'll want a pair or else you'll have a 2x2 foot spot that is brighter than the rest in the tank. If this is OK with you then sure one halide would cut it and you could keep pretty much anything under it; however if you leaning towards mostly SPS the higher the par the better generally speaking. So, if your planning a higher K bulb look to a higher wattage, but if your planning a low K bulb a lower wattage would cut it. This is where looking at other tanks/lights will help you decide what you want over your tank.
 
to tell the truth i was asking what every likes. as far as spectrum gose.

and for wattage would i beable to keep anything i want under 250?

thanks
nate :beer:
 
I like the 400 watt Iwasakis (6.5K) on a magnetic ballast with a pair of 110 watt VHO actinics. I didn't care for the 250 watt Iwasakis on an electronic ballast; they weren't as white. If you are just going with halides I'd look in the 12K-ish range.

Yes, you can keep anything under the 250s.
 
The 400s are bad IMO becaues theyre going ot cost him an extra $20 a month in electricity from the lights. Hes probably going to need to run a chiller with them, and if he keeps his water even remotely clean, hes going to have bleaching issues.
 
I'm going to go against the grain (but this comes from lots of experience) and say you would even be fine with only 2 150 watters, especially if they're HQI. Of course, if you want high K bulbs (I like 20K best) you might need 250 watts. An excellent resource in this decision is this site:

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

It helped me decide on my lighting scheme for my 36" deep 140 (certainly an unusual situation - if it matters, I went with 250s). It also reveals some intersting things about the bulbs, such as the fact that a 175 W mogul 20K is twice as powerful as a 250 W HQI 20K (XM bulbs).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7593837#post7593837 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Snausages01
Why would there be bleaching issues with 400s?
Click to expand...
IMO/E, there is the potential for bleaching issues with any light system. If you do something to change water clarity suddenly (especially suddenly clearing it; eg. carbon) the sudden shift in light levels can cause bleaching. By anecdote, when I started running carbon on my 140, the water cleared up so quickly that I had some bleaching under just 250s (and 36" away from the light). Of course, I was expecting that and took action to prevent problems. Now that the water is clear, though, the risk is largely gone. So, you will have risk of "sudden-change bleaching" regardless of what system you use (I've had some instances with PC!). Corals are incredibly adaptable, but they can't change very quickly.
Another potential bleaching issue caused indirectly by 400s would be temperature bleaching. However, that is a different type of bleaching and the potential also exists with any system.
 
look at some threads talking about the new iwasaki 175W bulbs.they have more par than most 250W.with a 48" tank you will need two bulbs and the 55gal tanks are two thin to start putting in any vho's once you get some decent reflectors for your halides,for example look at the lumenarc's,even with the mini's they will fill your canopy,and these are the best reflrctors out there.forget about baking your tank under 400W,untill you upgrade to a larger tank.
 
With clean water in my 180 I ended up having bleaching issues with my 3x250 W 10k xm. I will be switching to 14k soon... growth is awesome but colors are all light. the corals under my center brace are amazing... Punching light through isnt always the answer. In your 55 you would be best going with some 150W DE most likely about the 14k range
 
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