What Level of Lighting Insanity Have You Reached

[michael stuart]

I'm running 2. 400watt halides and the tank is 40inches long but only 12 inches high.
Going to switch to LED soon before heat becomes a major issue.
Interestingly, lots of the SPS have taken on a blue colour with this amount of light but the tank is ultra bright. Love it though.
Michael

 

[sirreal63]

I went the other way, and some said I was insane, it wouldn't work and I would be disappointed. I haven't been disappointed and my insanity was a pre-existing condition. Wattage doesn't always equate to PAR or PUR and equipment selection goes a long ways towards equalizing things.

 

[williewilliams]

I have a 15 gallon shallow tank with a 250w Radium + 9 Cree XT-e RBs + 3 3watt violet chips. A 30 gallon again with 250w radium +12 XT-E RBs + 4 violet chips. Might be over kill, but things grow well.

 

[RADION LOVER]

I'm running two ecotech radions at 65% and it seams most of my sps is bleaching... But that's all I have had so that's all I know...

 

[Justdrew]

I am running 400 watt radium over a 40 breeder. I also have 12 leds for actinic/dusk dawn. 8 cree xt-e rb and 4 uv.

 

[reefmutt]

3 1000w!! crazy..

two tanks ago, i had a 6 foot 220, i had 3 x 400w iwasakis and 2 x 250w radium along with 4 x 6 ft vho actinics..

my last tank was 5 feet long and 42 inches back to front.. it had 6 x 250 de giesemann coral bulbs, 4 x 70w blue de and 9 x 80w t5..

always had great growth and colour... and big electricity bills..

my next tank will have 3 GHL mitras.. thats it..

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I got a nova extreme pro 8 bulb, put new ballasts and a fan it. ordered new ati bulbs, then bought a used ati 6 bulb sunpower. 6 weeks later I bought a 7 bulb aquatinics constellation fixture for $120 (cause it was a good deal and it's nice to have a backup). The whole time I'd like to just get 2 reefbreeder LED fixtures. LOL. I know t5's rock, I am a hoarder. should have just bought 2x24" reefbreeders controllable. I am however going to sell the nova soon. I also have 3x250 metal halides that I'm not using. This is a sickness. Hello my name is Dan and I have a reef problem.....

 

[biggles]

Hi Dan, welcome to the group, take a seat - you're safe here with the other electricity guzzling light obsessed reef addicts..........:thumbsup:

 

[smcooler]

have a 180 400 watt metal halides on the ends a 300 watt plasma in the center one 5 foot reefbright xho and 18 3 watt blue leds to blend in the plasma. plasma is ramped up and down from a apex.


stan

 

[cham]

I went nuts for a long time, now I just run my two 54w T5 sunrise/sunset bulbs with LED suppliments for 11 hours per day and only run the main lights for about 90 minutes.

Coloration and growth are great.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Thanx guys I feel better. T5's are cool. Wait, or do I put on the radium 250's, or the.... lol.

 

[strgazr27]

A lcal reefer I know runs a pair of radium 250's and three ai sol blues over his 40 breeder....and I thought I had a lot of light over my tank, lol.

How did he manage to get them all to fit and still have balanced light output? Would need to see a picture of that to believe it.

 

[yalpal]

I run four 400 watt metal halides, two 160 watt VHO's, and four 54 watt T5's over my standard 180 (6x2x2). Completely overkill, but its not as intense as it seems because I stagger the timing of my halides to simulate sunrise and sunset. The total amount of time where I have all of my bulbs running is about one hour. Oh yeah, I also have LEDs for moonlights! I'll upload some pictures when I get a chance. So I have over 2,100 watts of light on a 180 gallon tank...

 

[yalpal]

After reading what some of you are doing, at least I know I'm not the only one!

 

[MammothReefer]

500w over my 65g
250w over the 15g frag tank (I really should get the bigger frag tank installed)