Lighting for 46 gallon bowfront

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icefish

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Aug 3, 2003
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I'm making up my shopping list and I'm getting stumped on the lighting.

I had been looking at the Outer Orbit fixtures, but the rectangular area of my tank is only 12" deep.

Are there any narrow units that offer Metal Halide and Actinics (and moon lights)?

Thanks.
 
I quickly discovered on my 46 bow that lighting it can be frustrating.

Given that you are looking at the Outer Orbit fixture, it appears that you want a MH/T5 setup, correct?

If you're looking at keeping high light creatures like SPS and clams your best option would simply be to hang the fixture from the ceiling.

A similar fixture to the Outer Orbit is Coralife's Aqualight Pro series that is MH/PC. Spend a little more and there's Sunlight Supply's Maristar MH/T5 unit. Both of these are also designed to be ceiling mounted.

Another option is 2 separate MH pendants. A single pendant won't do because of that stupid center brace.

However, if you need a tank mounted option, there's not much out there that you can install on top of a 46 bow. Coralife has a tank-mounted single 150W HQI MH unit designed for cubes and hexagons. You'd need two of these.

If your only looking at keeping LPS and softies, there's a much wider range of tank-mount lighting choices from Coralife's PC Aqualight line other similar PC fixtures.

Personally, I keep LPS and softies in my 46 bow under a tank-mounted 4x39W T5 HO Teklight from Sunlight Supply. They do make a more powerful 36" 6x39W unit that you could keep SPS under, but as with the Outer Orbit, the 46 bow simply isn't wide enough for an on-tank mounting.
 
I have a T5 Aquactinics 5 Bulb Fixture on my 46 gallon bowfront. I am pretty much happy with it, no complaints. It just sits on top of the tank no problem. Has a Built in fan and depending on bulb selection you can get the color you want, each bulb is 39watts. You can keep clams and SPS with it no problem from my research. Good Luck.
 
Kiel'thalin said:
I have a T5 Aquactinics 5 Bulb Fixture on my 46 gallon bowfront. I am pretty much happy with it, no complaints. It just sits on top of the tank no problem. Has a Built in fan and depending on bulb selection you can get the color you want, each bulb is 39watts. You can keep clams and SPS with it no problem from my research. Good Luck.
Click to expand...

K, what is your tank currently stocked with?
 
Right now I have a BTA and a frag of acro to test it out. They have been in there for about a month. The Acro frag seems to do being fine, the Anemone has not moved an inch, seems pretty happy. I am sure if you do some research the fixture I mentioned will give you happy results. Good Luck...
 
Crown Royal said:
A similar fixture to the Outer Orbit is Coralife's Aqualight Pro series that is MH/PC. Spend a little more and there's Sunlight Supply's Maristar MH/T5 unit. Both of these are also designed to be ceiling mounted.
Click to expand...

CR, I'm now looking at the Maristar. It uses two MH bulbs which are not centered over the tank. Would using the tank mount still be too close to the brace?

Another question: could I run this unit inside a hood that's been drilled for ventilation?
 
If I recall correctly, you won't be able to tank-mount a Maristar onto a 46 bow for the same reason as an Outer Orbit or an Aqualight Pro: the tank simply isn't wide enough from front to back. A 46 bow tapers down to around 12 inches on each side which is less than the width of the legs.

I'd check with Sunlight Supply (SLS) but you'd have to ceiling mount a Maristar over a 46 bow.

On the bulb issue, if the 3' Maristar has dual MH then you'll be fine - the lighting would be kickass actually. I know the 4' version is 2x250W MH, but most 3' MH combo units are only a single MH which mean that stupid cross-brace will get in the way.

Concerning ventilation, the Maristars (like SLS's Teklights) are designed to be stand alone units. Putting them in a hood could compromise their ventilation which requires a lot of air movement. I believe that SLS would recommend that you go with one of their retrofit kits if you plan on installing a hood.

A retrofit in a hood, by the way, would negate the need for any legs and allow you to have a dual MH system without the need to ceiling mount. It takes a bit of DIY saavy, but many others have done it before.

SLS has pretty good customer service and even has a dedicated forum over on RC. Ask over there to get any "official word".
 
CR, I actually spoke with a couple of guys at SS today and they seemd to think the tank mount would be fine.

The unit is 13.75" deep, but the feet of the brackets are much narrower. By my estimate the feet are 10" wide.

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I'm pretty much sold on this unit, now it's just a matter of finding it at the best price. Pretty crazy to think that this lighting unit will cost more than my entire FW setup (tank, stand, equipment).
 
Before you pull the trigger on the Maristar (which is a very nice unit), SLS will be releasing a new and improved Maristar II sometime in November at approximately the same price point as the current unit. There's been some buzz over at RC about this unit as it's supposed to close the gap even more with the fancy schmancy European MH/T5 units from Aquamedic, Giesemann and Sfiligoi.
 
You are not going to have any room for that fixture on your 46 gallon, the T5 fixture I mentioned from Aquactinics is only 9.5" Wide, leaving you with just 2 inches of clearance on the back (I have even measured on my own tank and it is true). I think the 13.75" Fixture will not sit right on the tank and will overhang the back or the front depending on what you will like. If you are looking at a Metal Halide Setup the the Aquactinics Metal Halide Fixture is even smaller at 8.5" depth and utilizes 2 halide bulbs on each side suplimented with 2 T-5 bulbs, not the single halide in the middle that most 36" fixtures use. Good Luck
 
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