Can you tell what type of lighting this is?

[TL1000RSquid]

If you were going to stick with the PC bulbs, maybe another thing to consider would be going all 12000k+ and adding a couple actinic LED strips.

 

[Nepherael]

If you were going to stick with the PC bulbs, maybe another thing to consider would be going all 12000k+ and adding a couple actinic LED strips.

That's an interesting concept. If I go that route what would it change about what corals I can keep? Can I go up to high loght and can you recommend an actinic strip?

Thanks for going through this with me guys ^^ really great to be given all these options=)

 

[Narwhal72]

It would still be medium light but on the higher end. The small blue LED strips really don't produce a lot of light energy but they do make for good accent lighting and improve the aesthetics.

It is possible to use the housing to make an entirely LED fixture if you wanted. Remove all the lamps and ballasts and attach an aluminum heat sink and use one of the DIY LED kits like you get from RapidLED to make a full blown LED fixture.

Andy

 

[TL1000RSquid]

I believe the cree led's are somewhat efficient, but yeah the main idea would be to bring it up to the higher end of medium light which would allow hosting nem's for your clowns that you want, and allow a few more corals.

Most of the premade strips run around $70-90 and you would require a couple of them, for the same money you could DIY and it would have more efficient LED's.

I think a full on conversion to LED of a 72" would be a bit costly.

 

[Nepherael]

Interesting. Yeah I will definitely have to figure out the lighting for nem's. It sounds like I want to stick with CFL for now and have all 4 bulbs be 14,000-16,000k and either DIY or buy a couple
led strips for night cycle

 

[dbosman]

Excellent. How would I go about doing it with the 80w bulbs? As far as the new reflector goes, since the current one fits the fixture could I just solder bulb clips on it? Also is there no possibility of current ballasts? And last question, best place to obtain all this stuff? Amazon?
Are these the bulbs you're talking about?
http://www.hellolights.com/60hot5reefwhite10000k80w-aquamedic-1.aspx
I would consider doing those if you think there is enough room to convert it to an 8 bulb fixture. This is assuming I can't do high light corals with the 4 bulb I would be retrofitting into. Get what I mean?

That would be an interesting retro fit.
If you Google the model number of the ballast(s) you'll learn more. If some of us Google the ballast model number we can probably tell you specifically what it/they are capable of lighting.

 

[dbosman]

I believe the cree led's are somewhat efficient, but yeah the main idea would be to bring it up to the higher end of medium light which would allow hosting nem's for your clowns that you want, and allow a few more corals.
Most of the premade strips run around $70-90 and you would require a couple of them, for the same money you could DIY and it would have more efficient LED's.
I think a full on conversion to LED of a 72" would be a bit costly.

Most, but not all, pre-made strips are pretty much useless for reef or planted tanks. That is changing.
These Bridgelux strips are some of the first really useful ones.
http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Bridgelux-LED-Strip-white-10000K.html
http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Bridgelux-LED-Strip-Royal-Blue.html
and they still have to have a decent heat sink.

DIY is currently still the way to go for most of us.
Given some of the changes in just the last year, a 72" single strip LED unit could cost under $200.
http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/72--LEDs--DIY-Dimmable-Kit.html for instance.

 

[dbosman]

It is possible to use the housing to make an entirely LED fixture if you wanted. Remove all the lamps and ballasts and attach an aluminum heat sink and use one of the DIY LED kits like you get from RapidLED to make a full blown LED fixture.
Andy

I'll argue against that. Hiding the heat sink isn't usually necessary (or perhaps desired) and the existing fixture still has value to someone who can't manage a DIY or retro fit conversion.