Big Tank. Big Lights. Need Advice.

I calculated it out all sort of ways and MH was the most expensive up front and long term, but I was looking at pricey Icecap ballasts and also pricey bulbs. You can get a cheapie magnetic ballast, and they are often brighter but also consume more power, and may have a slight hum. One thing I wouldnt skimp on is the reflector, especially when trying to cover such a large area and depth. One other thing to be prepared about in a planted tank, especially with tall plants, metal halide lighting will create shadows so plan your scape well. Good luck.
 
Nolapete: We did indeed factor bulb replacement and life. While the MH may not last quite as long, it's not that big of a difference and we will have many less bulbs to have to change.

loaches r cool: What I was figuring was based off of these retrofit kits:
http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=170

Electric ballast, $129 without bulb. I'm not sure of the quality of the reflectors though. I'm not even sure how to judge reflector quality. Nor am I sure if this is what we will end up with. We'll be looking for a company that would be willing to work with a 501c3 non-profit in some way.
 
I ordered lights from hellolights recently. They were very helpful, but out of stock of a lot of the stuff on their site. They called me twice to ask me how I wanted to change my order to resolve things they didn't have in stock. Quick to resolve the problems and willing to work with me a little bit, bit annoying that it needed the work. Still, I recommend them for their service, if not supplies.
 
FreakIndeed said:
Thanks for the advice guys... Geofied, you may just get a PM a few months down the road when we are ready to kick this thing into high gear.
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Very good, I'll look forward to hearing from you. My kids would probably love visiting a studio, especially for a kids show (they're 4 and 2). Hope that would be OK, if it works out.

Congrats on making a choice. I really hope you can control the heat in that space with the ductwork. I think the radiant heat is a concern still as it will project downward to the water, much farther than fluorescents. You may consider in your plans to have some air pull right at the tank top level, between the lights and the tank. The good news is that you could help heat and humidify parts of the building with the amount you'll be pulling from the lights. Hey, that just gave me an idea for justifying MH's at home...light a tank, heat a room.

Hopefully you will get a couple of days to run the lights over the tank with just water to get an idea of what the actuals are for ambient and water surface temp.
 
If i were you, I'd have four 250 watt metal halide bulbs, and perhaps 2 VHO 72" lamps.

heres a link to the VHO bulbs. they're nicely priced.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=3818&N=2004+113174

Id have the metal halides to be 6500k and the VHO to be 10000k.

It might be hard though to find 250w 6500k MH bulbs. Industrial supply stores might carry them at lower costs.

Personally, I'd stay away from T-5 bulbs. It would stink having to change 20+ bulbs. In addition to that, they would be very inefficient, as you probably wouldnt have any reflectors on them.
 
I've heard good things about the Iwasaki 6500K bulbs, and they are pretty common - used to have a link to get em for $40 but that place doesnt sell em anymore. The reflector that you linked is ok but the ones that are enclosed all the way around are better (not open on the ends). Since you have plenty of space I'd be looking for something like the Lumenarc L3 or LumenMax reflector. Remember with single ended bulbs you dont have to worry about the extra UV shielded glass, as long as moisture getting to your bulb/reflector isnt a problem. If you use just a basic reflector your probably going to be having issues trying to stretch 3 lights over such a large area.

If your interested in some supplimental flourescent lighting I may suggest T5, but definately use good reflectors like IceCap SLR's for each bulb and if you use an IceCap VHO ballast you can get about 85W from a 54W T5HO bulb. Thats what I am doing with my 8 foot 240g, using 4 T5 bulbs over each side and two IceCap 660 ballasts, so with both on I am at ~2.8wpg. And even for the exact same model light linked above youl save a good $10 a bulb compared to those VHO's and probably put the same or more light in the tank.
 
I'm sorry but I didn't read anything but the original post.
I have only been dealing with planted tanks for less then a year but between the countless books I've read, the brains of seasoned pros that I've picked and the experimentation I have conducted there is one thing that needs to be considered in a public fish tank. Maintenance!!!!
You can do a planted tank but better then lots of WPG, co2 and ferts you need to consider the problems that we face on a day to day week to week basis in our water gardens. Constant trimming and pruning and algae growth.
Also in a planted tank where you can't vacuum the gravel you will need to stir the substrate every 4-6months to prevent the build up of anaerobic bacteria. If you were to go high tech you would need to set up an automatic dosing system and have everything on timers and possibly an automatic water change system.

For a public tank that you really can't spend time tinkering around in would be best to have some rock work and maybe some sword plants, moss, fern and anuibas.
 
Definitely decided to go with the Metal Halides. I think we will go ahead and get 4 X 250 Watt. If it ends up being to much it will be nice to have a backup unit in storage. Or maybe I can hang it over another tank somewhere to grow out plants.

FishyMatty: I'm expecting it to be a lot of work. I'm also expecting it to take months not weeks to get it right. I'm going to be doing all maintenance on the tank. Not only will I be there working everyday, but I'm also living there! I'm giving up two of my personal 55 gallon tanks to add the stock to this tank. So I'll have much less to do in the evenings. :) So basically, I'm hoping that I will be able to keep up the maintenance, water changes, trimming, ferts, ect.

We are also adding everything we can to make it more convenient. Water lines and drains ran to the tank. Plus a sink underneath. And anything anyone can think of. :)

The way I look at it, if it turns out to be a disaster... we'll make it all fake and still have cool fish for the tv set! I really want to (and think we can) make it work :)
 
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