To Much Light?

[Mish1]

I am planning on starting up a reef tank in the next couple of months. I am trying to do as much research as possible and am glad I found these forums. There is a lot of good information on here.

Here are the lights I am considering for my 75 gallon tank. Will this be to much light?

Reef Tank Lighting

Thanks!

 

[thegrun]

That is quite a bit of light for a 75 gallon tank. How deep is the tank, the standard 21"? If they have a fixture with two 150 watt MH instead of the two 250 watt fixtures, I think it would be more appropriate. With this fixture, you may have trouble with corals requiring moderate light.

 

[Mish1]

Thanks for the reply.

This is for a standard 75 gallon tank.

I thought it was quite a lot of light as well but the price is pretty good. So you think that would be to much light? I would like to have the ability to have a variety corals in my tank.

 

[IslandCrow]

I'm afraid the link is blocked where I am, but 2x250w MH doesn't sound like too much light on a 75g at all. A buddy of mine has 2x400w MH on his 60g (the second 400w is only on for 3-4 hours per day), and he keeps everything from Acropora to Zoanthids. I was considering doing 2x250s on my 46g, but I decided to go with overdriven T-5s, which put out easily as much PAR as a couple 250w MHs. Most corals really will adapt to a wide spectrum of lighting, and for those that don't, it's usually pretty easy to creat partially shadowed areas where you can grow them.

 

[Mish1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14770742#post14770742 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IslandCrow
I'm afraid the link is blocked where I am, but 2x250w MH doesn't sound like too much light on a 75g at all. A buddy of mine has 2x400w MH on his 60g (the second 400w is only on for 3-4 hours per day), and he keeps everything from Acropora to Zoanthids. I was considering doing 2x250s on my 46g, but I decided to go with overdriven T-5s, which put out easily as much PAR as a couple 250w MHs. Most corals really will adapt to a wide spectrum of lighting, and for those that don't, it's usually pretty easy to creat partially shadowed areas where you can grow them.

Here are the specs for the light that was in the link.

Approx Fixture Size: 48"L x 15 1/4"W x 2 3/4"H


Output:

MH 250W x2.
65W straight pins (....) power compact x4.
Dual Lunar LED module x6.

Feature:

non-corrosive coated housing
German made HQ light reflector
built-in heavy duty cooling fan
external ballast modules
tempered glass splash guard
4 Individual power cords and 4 power switches for timer setup.
Mounting legs

Bulbs:

2x 250W 15000K double ended MH bulbs
4x 65W straight pins Actinic 460nm bulbs
12x Lunar LED bulbs.

Does this sound like to much light for a 75 gallon tank?

 

[Toddrtrex]

What do you plan on keeping in that tank?

Over my 75 (( SPS, clam, and 2 Haddoni carpet anemones )) I have 2*250 MH + 4*54 T5 actinic. So depending on what your plans are for the tank, the lights you are looking at will be great, or too much.

 

[Mish1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14771213#post14771213 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
What do you plan on keeping in that tank?

Over my 75 (( SPS, clam, and 2 Haddoni carpet anemones )) I have 2*250 MH + 4*54 T5 actinic. So depending on what your plans are for the tank, the lights you are looking at will be great, or too much.

I am not really sure what kind of corals/fish/inverts I will want in the tank yet. By purchasing these lights will I be limiting what I can have in the tank since the lighting will be strong or will these lights allow me to keep a wide variety of corals/fish/inverts?

Thanks for the responses!

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14771282#post14771282 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mish1
I am not really sure what kind of corals/fish/inverts I will want in the tank yet. By purchasing these lights will I be limiting what I can have in the tank since the lighting will be strong or will these lights allow me to keep a wide variety of corals/fish/inverts?

Thanks for the responses!

The corals that you might have issues keeping (( too much light )) are ones that I personally will never keep in my tank again --- mushrooms.

Other than that, as long as you acclimate any new corals to those lights, you should have too much of an issue.

 

[WaterKeeper]

One of the things about lighting is that distance counts A LOT. Simply raising the lights a few inches greatly decreases the PAR at the bottom of the tank.

Heat is probably the greatest issue with high illumination tanks. Big wattage means more heat and that can mean adding a chiller. If the tank holds temp in a reasonalble range then one can always raise the lights if corals seem to be photo saturated.

 

[Mish1]

Thank you for the responses.

I am starting to think I might want to go with a little less powerful light. I really don't want to mess with a chiller.

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14771368#post14771368 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mish1
Thank you for the responses.

I am starting to think I might want to go with a little less powerful light. I really don't want to mess with a chiller.

Don't know how cool you keep your place, but with my 75 (( listed the lights a couple of posts up )), I don't have to use a chiller, a couple of clip on fans do the trick. (( temps b/t 78 and 83 )), and that fixture is about 4-5 inches off the tank. My 58 (( 2*250 + 2*96 PC )) has the fixture sitting right on the tank, and same as above, 2 clip on fans over the sump keeps my temps in check.

 

[Mish1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14771384#post14771384 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
Don't know how cool you keep your place, but with my 75 (( listed the lights a couple of posts up )), I don't have to use a chiller, a couple of clip on fans do the trick. (( temps b/t 78 and 83 )), and that fixture is about 4-5 inches off the tank. My 58 (( 2*250 + 2*96 PC )) has the fixture sitting right on the tank, and same as above, 2 clip on fans over the sump keeps my temps in check.

I might have to try that.

This seems like such a good deal for these lights that I would have a hard passing on them.

 

[Michael]

ive seen some superb tanks with lots of light over them, have a look at ultimate reef aquariums by michael. s. paletta if you get a chance and see some of the reefs in there and the lights they have above them, it seems to me that more flow and more lighting is the way forward to a successful reef aquarium, just have a look at some of the tank of the months here and the lighting over them as well

 

[WaterKeeper]

Todd is probably correct as the larger the tank the less heat radiating area is present. They hold heat better than a small tank.

 

[robot2222]

i f i were you i would not purchase that light . The power comsuption alone plus that is not a very high quality light . normallly you would have to spend a 1000 dollars for somthing like that. IF i were you I would look into a tek light 4 t5 or 6 t5 bulbis they are made by sunlight supply and i think they sell them at reef geek the t5 bulbs are 54 watts a piece but they have german made individule reflectors that reflect at 300 percent so you willl be paying for 200 or 300 watts of light and getting 6oo of 900 so you power bill will be much lower the replacement bulbs will be cheaper and you will have less heat issues . the tek light 4 the 4 bulb is 329 plus shipping including the bulbs the 6 bulb fixture is 550 i think. you will bulb able to keep any coral you want with the 6 bulb fixture.

 

[robot2222]

im sorry 329 doll free ground for the 4 bulb and 419 for the 6 bulb free ground I hope this helps ask others just another suggestion.

 

[Mish1]

I was also looking at this light.

 

[Reverend Reefer]

i would go with the T5 fixture. the power compacts on the first one will end up costing you an arm and a leg to replace the bulbs which don't last as long as the T5, plus you get more selection and more penetration with the T5s (and the bulbs are really cheap). just my opinion.

i got a 4x65W PC light fixture over my 65G and i hated them so i ended up doing a mod on the lights to get a mixed T5/PC frankenstein. if you want the halides, get halide with T5 not halide with PC, spend the extra now and save later.

 

[reefscape15]

I'm certainly a fan of MH lighting, and i'll personally never have another tank without them again. Having said that, it really comes down to what you plan on keeping in there. If you want only Zoas and Soft corals, i'd stick with T-5's, but if you are like many (including myself) one thing leads to another and you'll be buying SPS frags like crazy. SPS can never get enough light in my opinion. Hope this helps!

 

[robot2222]

it is really not that good of a deal. the nballasts prob make a lot of noise, the bulbs on the pc cost to much to replace i ave a 4 x 65 watt pc that needs bulbs replace every 6 months that cost 90 dollars 4 all 4 . one more thing the mh bulbs that they send , you will probably not like the color . those are between 60 and a hundred to replace each . on the other fixture the one from fosters and smith is probably bettter than the one on e bay but it is not as good as the sunlight supply t5 fixture from reef geek because the sunlight supply fixture has individual parabolic reflectors for each bulb.not to mention the quality of the balast on the sunlight supply fixture. current makes good products but remember you get what you pay for . the solar flare fixture is the best t5 fixture out there .