Taking the lighting plunge

[Wrasse Man]

Well, it is about time! One of the Wisconsin reefers is going to make me hood for the cost of lumber ! Now, I need to put in lights. My thought was 4X110 VHO, and 2X175 MH. Now the $64,000 question...what types of MH ballasts and bulbs? I know that the higher the K, the bluer they are. Fine. I was thinking 10K MH, 2 50/50 VHO and 2 03 VHO. I keep reading things like ballast X makes bulb A look real yellow, but ballast B makes it look blue...etc. What combo's of ballast and bulbs would you recomend? I know this is like asking what is the best religion, but I would like to know what you think.

Thanks!

[Brooke]

If I were you, I'd go ahead and get 250 watters. If I'm not mistaken you have a better bulb selection in the 250w versus the 175k's.

This is the age old question, huh. The best thing to do is go look at tanks with different lighting. Reef clubs are great for this. I've seen the higher K sunburst bulbs..and they are neat, but too blue for my tastes. We are currently running 3x250W 65k Iwasaki's on 2 PFO ballasts with 2-160W actinic VHO's. We're going to add one more VHO and see what we think. Right now the light is bright white/with some yellow. If I were to build a hood from scratch, I'd somehow make room for spider reflectors and perpendicular mount the MH bulbs. This is a real pain because it doesn't leave a lot of room for your VHO bulbs, though. I think the MH just look better when mounted perpendicular.

As far as bulbs go I'd probably use Iwasaki's or Ushios for bulbs. People do like the double ended HQI as well......oh decisions decisions.

Have fun!
Brooke

[Reefcrazy]

Or... think about doing what I wish that I had done. 2 250 w Iwaski's 6500k + 2 400 watt 20,000k metal halides. If your going to be raising SPS and clams this would be the best combo for maximum PAR and great looks.

[Spanky]

Agreed, you, of all people, know it depends on what you want to have critter wise.

For us the 2 / 03's, 2 / 50/50, and 3 175w 10k's on Spiders works. But it's all going to depend on what you want to raise.

Brooke, brought up a good point too. We trimmed the Spider Reflectors so they would fit perpendicular with two bulbs on each side.

Jerel

[JJGeisler]

Hi Scot,
It's late and brain dead time but ....time for math class. Sorry but each MH buld is turned perpendicular to front face, minimum 12" depth. Each VHO fluorescent bulb is spaced minimum 2 1/2" OC so figure AT LEAST 5" for two bulbs. We're at 17" Your tank is 18" deep (I think). Alowing for clearance plumping. overflows, etc I think your a little sqeezed for four (4) bulbs. Not needed any way IMO.

Based on my research (working on the same type project for my tank) my best opinion is (2) 250 watt Iwasaki 65k (sp) bulbs, dual PFO balsast and two Actinic 03 bulbs. This will give you 720 watts of lighting. Keep in mind the top plastic brace on your tank and shadows, bulb placment, etc. Better to pump up the MH than add VHO based on space.

A lot on articles out there about the 65K/10k comparison, seems 65k and actinic VHO is is a good fit., seperate timers etc. This was my conclusion for pulling out the plastic card and placing an order, so my $.02
JJ (RenFest is alive and well)

[Rick O]

I'm using (2) Iwasaki 250's and (2) URI actinic VHO's over my 120. My ballasts are Advance 71A3572. I'm told that this is the same ballast that PFO uses but I can't verify that. I'm very pleased with this setup. At first it appeared kinda yellow but as the bulbs burned in the light shifted towards more white. You can see pics of my tank by clicking on the link in my sig. The pics don't do it justice though.

HTH, JM.02, IMO

[Wrasse Man]

Thanks for the feed-back everyone!
What I am planning 'critter wise' is to move more toward the Florida biotope, with some nice SPS up top, but focusing more on the photo-synth gorgs. I will be trading out some of my corals that I don't think will handle the extra light (10" Toadstool, blue shrooms etc.) I am going to be doing some more research on what fits into the gorg forest biotope. I don't want to get rid of my fish, so it won't be a 'true' biotope, but I don't care to that extent. If I recall correctly, Jerel said that most of what I am looking at keeping is in the 40-50 feet deep range.