Lighting

oscar83

oscar83

AC Members
May 21, 2004
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Middletown, NJ
Hideeho all. :hi: I have a 75 (48x18x20) gallon reef (well, slowly becoming a reef) and I would like to get some MH lighting going. Currently I have 8 T8 bulbs lighting the tank, 2 each of 8000k, 10000k, 50/50, and actinic 03. As of now I have some ricordea which is growing like mad and some red mushrooms. In the not too distant future I would like to get a clam or 2 and some hard corals, not sure what really. But as for clams I was thinking green stripe derasa and a crocea perhaps. My concern is this: I would like to get MH lighting to support the clams and what not that I will be adding. How many watts and what color rating should I be looking to get? I was thinking to go with somewhere between 15000k - 20000k and replacing my 8000k lights with more actinic. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks :bowing:
 
well actually, the reccomended colour i have been told by 3 marine aquarium shops and 1 marine biologist is 14000k. But if it was me i would choose 16000k, it gives of a better colour for the clams. 8000k really should not be used on an aquarium it has too much red in it, with that much lighting you should get an anemone aswell, it would thrive provided the chemistary is right.
 
6500K is for growth, 10000k is pure white, 20000k is pretty blue. If you don't mind the yellow tint and want good growth go with 6500k, if you dont mind the pure white and pretty good growth still get 10000k (you can supplement some blue with your T-8's). If you do not want to supplement light you can get the 14000K but you wont have as good of growth with the lower K blubs. Or you can go with the 20000K and have a slower growth rate. I reccomend the 10000K bulbs for clams, since they loose out on alot of the spectrum once the 20000 bulbs are used.

Id use 2 250 watts, that way you dont have to worry about upgrading. I have 2x250watt 10000k bulbs (doubble ended) on my 65gallon tank and I love the color.
 
Thanks guys, I think I'll probably go with 2 x 250 watt 10000k's and replace those 8000k bulbs with actinics.
 
So i was looking at my tank and stand the other day and realized that i dont think i have room for MH's... I built the stand to hold my 2 75 gallon tanks, my freshwater being on top and my reef on the bottom. There is only about 3.5" of room between the top of the lights and the bottom of the top half of the stand. So I'm pretty sure MH's wouldnt fit there and if they will I dont think it would be good having that much heat right underneath my freshwater tank. I could move my T8s down a little but then that wouldnt leave me much room to do maintenance. In the hood for my freshwater tank i have 4 T12 bulbs. Would it be better to swap out the bulbs and use 4 T12's rather than 8 T8's? And also, will T12 VHO's work with a normal electronic ballasts I already have for the T12's?

As soon as I can steal my girlfriends sisters digi cam i'll take some pics to better show how everything is set up.
 
For real?? 8 x T5 HO's are about just as powerful as 4 x T12 VHO's. So it seems to me like it wouldnt really matter which way I went. At work there is a 300 gal tank with 6 x T12 VHO's and Gary (my regional manager who owns the tank) has been able to keep all sorts of clams and hard corals in that tank. The dimensions are something like 8'L x 30"T x 24"W or soemthing like that. What I'm looking for here is the cheapest way I would be able to keep clams and hard corals.
 
Rather, I'm looking for the best and easiest way to keep clams and hard corals without having to spend another $300.
 
Ok, so after much brain racking and going back and forth between about 4 different ideas something hit me! :idea: Between the top of the tank and the bottom of the T8's theres 6" of space. I can leave the T8's where they are and mount MH's underneath them. I'll have to jerry rig a glass shield around the MH's so they dont get splashed and toss in some cooling fans and I'll be good to go, right? I think I talked my girlfriend into buying me the MH's as a christmas/birthday present :dance: <~~~ I love that little guy... Anyway, my next question is what would be the best way to position the lights? I did a quick 30 second job in MS Paint to show my options. Should I go with A or B?

crappy.JPG
 
why wouldn't you put it in the middle??? Its going to get hot with them a few inches above the water. 8T-5s are much brighter than 4 VHO's.... much brighter. If you had 8 t-5's it would be way to much for your tank.
 
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